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2 doubt of the reality of the performance. The minister, Rajah
3 Dhyan Sing, assured me, that he himself kept this faqueer
4 (whose name was Haridas) four months under the ground,
5 when he was at Jummoo in the mountains. On the day of his
6 burial, he ordered his beard to be shaved, and at his exhuma-
7 tion his chin was as smooth as on the day of his interment ;
8 thus furnishing a complete proof of the powers of vitality
9 having been suspended during that period. He likewise caused
10 himself to be interred at Jesrota, in the mountains, and at
11 Umritsir, and also by the English in Hindostan. In the
12 Calcutta Medical Journal about 1835, there is a full description
13 of the faqueer, and we are there informed, that he preferred
14 having the chest in which he was enclosed, suspended in the
15 air, instead of its being buried beneath the earth, as he feared
16 the possibility of his body being attacked by ants, whilst in
17 that middle state between life and death. Having, however,
18 refused to undergo another trial, several of the English people
19 there doubted the truth of the story, and refused credence in so
20 astonishing a power.* But it is quite certain that had there
21 been any deception as regards the interment of the faqueer,
22 rendering his experiment easy of accomplishment, those engaged
23 or associated with him, and to whom the task of restoring the
24 vital energies was necessarily entrusted, would of necessity be
25 acquainted with the mystery, and able, since his real decease, to
26 emulate his example ; that, however, is not the case. It appears,
27 consequently, that the faqueer was the only one then in possession
28 of that ability ; and as a further corroboration of this view of
29 the case, I may mention that I myself inquired in the Punjab,
30 in the mountains and valleys of Cashmere, and in other parts
31 of India, and used every exertion to find a person possessed
32 of this power, in order to bring him to Europe, or at least to
33 Calcutta, but without success. Several Hindoos told me that
34 such faqueers set no value upon money ; I replied to them
35 * To corroborate the above, my readers can refer to General Ventura (Paris),
36 and also to Colonel Sir C. M. Wade (London), who were present, and
37 assisted at the restoration of the faqueer, some accounts of whom have been
38 published from the Colonel’s statement.