Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 4.djvu/114

NUTS. upon but the earth. Now ensues a dialogue between the boy and the performer, who finally determines that he ought to put the boy to death for having insulted him. Then he brandishes his sword, and plunges it into the basket, jobbing it in all directions. Horrible screams are at first heard, which subside into groans, and these at last cease. The performer then shows his sword in triumph, apparently red with blood. "Ah!"' says he, wagging his head, "he's dead; now, let's look at him." The basket is kicked away, but there is no boy, and the urchin is discovered laughing in the crowd. This is generally the last feat performed, and is rewarded by the pyce and cowries of the bystanders.

The Nuts are tight-rope dancers also, and some of their feats are extremely curious, displaying great strength. A man will tie the four legs of an ass together, and put his neck through them, allowing the beast to hang at his back. Upon the ass, and across his own shoulders, he will mount one of his daughters. At each end of his balancing pole are baskets, in one of which are two or three small children; in the other, as many kids, or a goat, or dogs, to balance them. Thus equipped, he walks up one slope of the rope, settles himself firmly upon its forked supports, and proceeds across the centre, sometimes steadily, sometimes standing on one leg, then on the other, and again pretending to fall. In the centre the girl on the ass jumps up, stands on one leg, makes a salaam to the audience, and cries lustily for largess. The man then proceeds, and runs down the further slope, into the arms of the people who catch him.

Nut girls also perform many wonderful feats. One is, to climb a high bamboo pole, perhaps thirty feet high, which is fixed upright by stays. On the top of this the girl places a brass dish. She then lies out at full length on the dish, her face downwards, and her legs and arms stretched out. Suddenly she sets herself spinning round with great velocity, which is the chief feat of the exhibition, and is repeated several times.

But their most wonderful performance, which few can do, is by a man, and is called the frog trick. He borrows all the swords he can collect from the bystanders, usually as sharp as razors, and drawing each, places the whole irregularly on the ground, the edges being uppermost, and the swords held in their position by the hilts and the points being settled in the ground. When an area of perhaps twenty square yards has been covered, spaces being left between each sword, the performer leaps into the middle, rapidly performs some reverential postures to his tutelary divinity, then bends down till his hands and feet, outstretched, touch the ground. In this posture he leaps from place to place irregularly, barely, as it appears, avoiding the upturned edges of the swords; and when he has covered every space, the play is over. It Is really, however, a very dangerous feat, nor will even good performers attempt it without demanding a large reward.

It is difficult to determine any probable origin for the Nuts. They are not,