rendered insensible to pain by self-induced hypnotism.

An account by Carpenter of the Algerian Aissaoui contained the
following lucid description of the performances of these people:--

"The center of the court was given up to the Aissaoui. These were 12
hollow-checked men, some old and some young, who sat cross-legged in an
irregular semicircle on the floor. Six of them had immense flat drums
or tambours, which they presently began to beat noisily. In front of
them a charcoal fire burned in a brazier, and into it one of them from
time to time threw bits of some sort of incense, which gradually filled
the place with a thin smoke and a mildly pungent odor.

"For a long time--it seemed a long time--this went on with nothing to
break the silence but the rhythmical beat of the drums. Gradually,
however, this had become quicker, and now grew wild and almost
deafening, and the men began a monotonous chant which soon was
increased to shouting. Suddenly one of the men threw himself with a
howl to the ground, when he was seized by another, who stripped him of
part of his garments and led him in front of the fire. Here, while the
pounding of the drums and the shouts of the men became more and more
frantic, he stood swaying his body backward and forward, almost
touching the ground in his fearful contortions, and wagging his head
until it seemed as if he must dislocate it from his shoulders. All at
once he drew from the fire a red-hot bar of iron, and with a yell of
horror, which sent a shiver down one's back, held it up before his
eyes. More violently than ever he swayed his body and wagged his head,
until he had worked himself up to a climax of excitement, when he
passed the glowing iron several times over the palm of each hand and
then licked it repeatedly with his tongue. He next took a burning coal
from the fire, and, placing it between his teeth, fanned it by his
breath into a white heat. He ended his part of the performance by
treading on red-hot coals scattered on the floor after which he resumed
his place with the rest. Then the next performer with a yell as before,
suddenly sprang to his feet and began again the same frantic
contortions, in the midst of which he snatched from the fire an iron
rod with a ball on one end, and after winding one of his eyelids around
it until the eyeball was completely exposed, he thrust its point in
behind the eye, which was forced far out on his cheek. It was held
there for a moment when