Witnessing the strange performance was a young mother with her babe beside her and a young nurse girl several feet away. To her horror the mother then beheld the nurse girl rising a few feet in the air and moving rapidly toward the babe, reaching down for the infant as she glided over it, and then rising high into the air with the child clasped in her arms, until both were lost in the clouds. The mother hurst into frantic cries and shrieks and gazed upward; and as she gazed she saw a fleecy cloud appear, which gradually took the shape of the nurse girl, who grew larger and larger as she descended, until she finally reached the deck again and handed the babe to the rejoiced mother. The mother, after clasping her babe close to her bosom, cried out, "How dare you take my child away?" when to her surprise the girl answered, "Why, ma'am, the baby has been asleep all the time and I have not touched him." And then the fakir smiled and said, "Mem Sahib has only been dreaming strange things." It was merely an instance of induced imagination of a remarkable degree of power, produced by the Mental Imagery of the fakir; and his previous feats were also so performed.

But this was only the beginning. The fakir then untied his red bundle, and, extracting therefrom a cocoanut he exhibited it to the passangers, passing it around for inspection. Then, placing the nut on the end of a bamboo stick, and, balancing it there, he commanded it in Hindi to spout as a fountain, and immediately a great jet of water sprang from it, falling over the deck in great showers. He then caused it to stop flowing, and it obeyed; then be restarted it. This is repeated several times. Then he materialized a cobra from the air and caused it to disappear at his command, after he had terrified the passengers with it. Then he materialized several human forms in broad sunlight in full view of the passengers, and afterwards caused them to melt away gradually until they disappeared like a cloud of steam. Then taking up a collection, which was quite liberal, he jumped over the side and swam rapidly to shore.

The natives among the ship's passengers smiled at the wonder of the Europeans present and laughed at the latter's talk of jugglery or magic power, informing them that it was merely an instance of Hindu Telepathy, or Mental Influence, and that those among them who resisted the spell saw nothing except the fakir with glistening eyes showing every evidence of a powerful and concentrated exercise of his Imagination. These feats are quite common in some parts of India, but they are known to be but mental illusions, for all attempts to catch the exhibition on photographic plates have failed, the plate showing nothing but the magician in a state of mental concentration. The magicians have developed the power of causing many persons at the same time to have the illusion of seeing, hearing, tasting and smelling things that have no material existence. It is induced imagination in a developed degree, but differs only in degree from the phenomena more familiar to the Western World.

In this connection I would like to add the testimony and explanation given to me personally by a greatly esteemed friend of mine - a Hindu sage traveling in this country, who in addition to his Oriental learning has received the highest English education and who is "a highly educated man" in both the eastern and western meanings of the term. This gentleman told me that when a youth he had witnessed exhibitions of the kind just related in his native land. At first he was puzzled and mystified by them, but his naturally scientific turn of mind caused him to seek for the solution. He began experimenting, and soon at least was able to classify the phenomena as pure mental illusion. He found that the crowd would gather close around the magician in order to see what was going on, although all were required to keep a certain number of yards away from the wonder-worker by the latter's instructions and requirements. My friend found that if he retreated a few yards beyond the outer edge of the crowd he could see nothing but the magician, all the "magical doings" disappearing. When he would join the crowd the mystic appearances were again plainly seen. He tried the experiment in several ways, with the same result. Then he tried a riskier one and pushed nearer to the magician than was allowable - and with the same result. In short, the influence was confined to a certain area and the mental influence was doubtless increased by the "contagion" of the different minds in the crowd. My friend tested the well-known "Mango feat" and the "Rope-disappearing feat" (as related in these pages) in this way and determined that they came well under the rule of mental illusion, instead of being an occurrence defying the established laws of Nature. The testimony of this gentleman corroborated the opinion that I had already formed to that effect, which opinion agrees with that of the best authorities.

In closing this chapter I (The Mental-Dynamo) wish to point out to the students of the work an erroneous idea that has crept into some of the Western works along the lines of hypnotism, etc., and which I shall now mention and explain. The Hindu magicians, or mesmerists, frequently sit in a squatting position during their "enchantments," droning a monotonous, soothing chant, as has been described, and at the tame time moving the body from the waist upward, in a circling, twisting motion, from the hips, at the same time fixing their gaze firmly upon their audience. This motion and twisting is merely an accompaniment to the droning chant akin to the motions of the Oriental dancers who twist their bodies in a similar manner in rhythm to the music. The motion is merely a custom among these people and has nothing to do with the production of the phenomena, as all Hindu occultists know and will tell you. In fact, the higher magicians among the Hindus do nothing of the sort, but maintain a dignified, calm, standing position, or the firm "yogi" seat," in which the body is evenly and firmly poised in a position of dignified rest, the hands resting on the lap, the back of one hand in the palm of the other.

All native Hindus understand the above matter, but western visitors jump at the conclusion that this gyrating circling of the body from the hips has something to do with the "power" manifested. And, as I have said, some of the western works on the subject have gone into considerable detail regarding this wonderful "Oriental Magic," which they assert is accomplished because of this twisting of the body. They might just as well point out some physical trick of motion of each leading western hypnotist and assert that the motion was the "secret of his power." I do not think that further comment is necessary in this case. The motions and attitudes, etc., are merely part of the setting of the piece, or possibly bits of "stage business," designed to heighten the impression of mystery. That's all.

I have been informed by an authority whose word is entitled to the greatest respect, and who has spent many years in India and other oriental countries, that the following method is used by these oriental magicians in developing within themselves the power to induce these strong mental images in the minds of those witnessing their performances: The magician starts when a youth and practices mental imagery in his own mind. This process is akin to Visualization, as mentioned by me in other chapters of this work. The magician at first uses his will in an endeavor to form a clear and distinct mental image of some familiar object, a rose, for instance. He practices until he is able to actually see the thing before him "in his mind's eye," just as certain eminent painters nave acquired the faculty of "visualizing" the faces of persons they meet, so that they can reproduce them on canvas without further sittings. Then he experiments upon larger objects, and then upon groups of objects, and so on to more complex pictures.

After years of constant experimentation and practice a few of those undertaking the work find themselves able to picture any of the scenes described in this chapter as "feats" - that is, they are able to clearly picture them in their own minds. And this being accomplished, the magician is able by his highly-developed concentrated will to project the mental image into the mind of those around him. It is induced imagination raised to a high degree of manifestation.

The people of the west will not devote the time and attention to the cultivation of such faculties, while the oriental will willingly give up half of his life for the attainment. But, on the other hand, the western man will devote his time to the acquirement of Will-Power and concentration in the direction of becoming a ruler of men and a general of finance. Each to his taste and temperament - and neither would "trade" places nor power with the other. They are both dealing with the same force, however, as little as they realize it.