File:The story of Marco Polo (1899) (14577307969).jpg

Identifier: storyofmarcopolo00polo (find matches)
Title: The story of Marco Polo
Year: 1899 (1890s)
Authors: Polo, Marco, 1254-1323? Brooks, Noah, 1830-1903, (from old catalog) ed
Subjects: Voyages and travels
Publisher: New York, The Century co.
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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ne ofthe travellers, who visited the regions of which Marcogives us some account, says: And jugglers causecups of gold to fly through the air and offer them-selves to all who list to drink. And Ibn Batuta, aMoor who visited Cathay a century after, gives thisaccount of a similar incident: That same night a juggler, who was one of the Kansslaves, made his appearance, and the Amir said to him :Come and show us some of your marvels. Upon thishe took a wooden ball, with several holes in it, throughwhich long thongs were passed, and (laying hold of one ofthese) slung it into the air. It went up so high that welost sight of it altogether. (It was the hottest season of theyear, and we were outside in the middle of the palacecourt.) There now remained only a little of the end of athong in the conjurers hand, and he desired one of theboys who assisted him to lay hold of it and mount. Hedid so, climbing by the thong, and we lost sight of himalso ! The conjurer then called to him three times, but
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A CHINESE CONJURER. xii.) tis all hocus-pocus. 109 getting no answer he snatched up a knife as if in a greatrage, laid hold of the thong, and disappeared also ! By-and-by he threw down one of the boys hands, then a footthen the other hand, and then the other foot, then thetrunk, and last of all the head! Then he came downhimself, all puffing and panting, and with his clothes allbloody kissed the ground before the Amir, and said some-thing to him in Chinese. The Amir gave some order inreply, and our friend then took the lads limbs, laid themtogether in their places, and gave a kick, when, presto !there was the boy, who got up and stood before us! Allthis astonished me beyond measure, and I had an attack ofpalpitation like that which overcame me once before inthe presence of the Sultan of India, when he showed mesomething of the same kind. The Kazi Afkharuddin wasnext to me, and quoth he : Wallah !—tis my opinionthere has been neither going up nor coming down, neithermarring nor mendi

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