to show another with water, though an English conjuror would
separate such tricks from an artistic point of view, thinking that a
change of diet in magic is just as necessary as it is in a meal. The
trick is that of the dancing duck.

[Illustration: THE DANCING DUCK,

performed with an enamel bowl instead of the cocoa-nut shell.]

A half cocoa-nut shell is dug out of the bag. It is wrapped up in a
piece of cloth and very carefully unfolded, for reasons that will be
apparent later. In this shell is a little wooden duck. The shell is
placed on the ground and filled with water upon which the duck floats.
The performer takes his "tom tom" and while playing it the duck
begins to dance, as it were, upon the water. After an interval it is
commanded to pay its obeisances or in other words, to "salaam," which
it does by going right under water. On the word "bas" it comes up
again. And so forth and so on.

It is a clever little trick and we will now see how it is done.

The cocoa-nut shell has a hole through the bottom of it. Through this
hole passes a horse hair that is attached at one end to the duck and
at the other to a piece of bees wax. The hair is about two feet long.
The whole apparatus is wrapped in a piece of cloth as otherwise the
horse hair would get unwound and broken. When placing it on the
ground, the bees wax enables the performer to see where the end of the
hair is when unwound. The shell is filled with water, some being
carelessly spilt to prevent the leakage through the little hole at
the bottom being too noticeable. When picking up his "tom-tom" the
performer also picks up the bees wax, and attaching it to the
"tom-tom" the arrangements are complete. Bringing the "tom-tom" closer
to the body makes the duck dive under water. The ordinary shaking of
the drum makes the duck dance.

This is not a trick that can be conveniently shewn by Europeans,
because of the inconvenience of doing it on the ground. The leakage of
the water is not so apparent on the earth, which hides the horse hair.
But at a small distance the trick can be done on a table, as the horse
hair is quite invisible at a range of five feet, especially when it is
against a dark back ground. It can be easily made or bought for a few
annas, and with good patter presents a neat little after dinner
experiment.

_The Mango Tree Trick._

To my mind it is amazing what a spurious reputation this trick has
gained. From a technical point of view, it is