Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1855-11-21


agines that he is to deal with an inexpe'
rienced or inattentive player, he immedi-
ately attempts to catch him by present.
ing him with the piece of straw or paper
which has remained on his side, under
pretence of having it measured against
the other. Should the novice be foolish
enough to accept the fragment, the ter
rible "yadace' is forthwith thundered
forth, and the game is lost in the very
outset. But it rarely happens, save,
perhaps, when one of the players is a
European, totally stranger to the ira
ditions of the game, that any one is found
thoughtless enough to be caught in this
gross, palpable trap. Much more fire..
quenily a struggle of mutual astuteness,
caution and circumspectiOn begins which
is prolonged for days, weeks, months !;
and, in many cases, years.
As it is almost impossible that persons
who live habitually together should not
sometimes find it unavoidable to lake
something from one another, it is agreed
upon, in the yadacean hypothesis, that
mutual acceptation may be made of ar
ticles, on condition that before an object
is touched the person who accepts should
say to the person who offers, EFF bali, -
or Gala bah," literally, with Tor by)
my knowledge - that is to say, l re-
ceive, with knowledge of reception. 1t
is also agreed, that all things appertain-
ing to the body may be received without
prejudice to yadace. The Moorish au-
thorities mention specially kiss or a
grasp of the hand, but they say nothing
of a blow. Perhaps they think that
with Moslem such a gift should never,
under any circumstances, be received,
but must naturally be returned as soon
as given.
Yadace may more properly be looked
upon as game of forfeit than as one
adapted to gambling purposes /; but the
Algerines make it subservient to The
good service of mammon to a tremend-
GUS extent. Before the French conquest,
in the olden times of the Dey and his
I
jeweled fan, with which he was wont to
rap the fingers of European consuls when
they were impertinent-when the Mus
sulman population of Algiers was both
numerous and wealthy-yadace was in
the highest fashion husbands played at
yadace with their wives /; brothers with
sisters friends among themselves
enormous sums were frequently won and
lost. Houses, gardens, farms, nay,
whole estates, were often staked and
many wealthy Moslem saw his fortune
depart from having had the imprudence
to accept a pipe of tobacco, cup of cof-
fee, morsel of pilaff, without having
pronounced the talismanic words, ''Fi
bali" However, there were many
players at yadace so cautious and at
tentive, that they were enabled to con-
time the mutual struggle for many
years, in spite of the most ingenious
ruses and the most deeply laid plots TO
trap one another. One devoted amateur
of yadace, venerable Turk, carried his
caution and determination not to be ia
ken in to such an extent, that he never
helped himself to a pinch of snuff, OF
which he was immoderately fond, with
out repeating to himself The formula,
Gala bali p'
If, during the nights of the Ramad-
han, you happen to stroll into any of the
Moorish coffee houses in Algiers, you
will find yadace to be a favorite theme
with the kawis, OF storytellers, and
groups of attentive indigenes listening to
their animated variations of feats of in
tellectual dexterity in yadace play ers,
and hair breadth escapes by flood and
field in that adventurous game. The
majority of these stories are quite un-
translatable into western language, and
unsuitable for western ears to hear
think, however, can find anecdotes thai
will give you some idea of the sub,
tleness of yadace.
Karamani-oglou, the son of Tehoka
oglou, was rich cloth merchant of Al
giers. Five long years had Karamam-
oglou been playing at yadace with hi:
wife, but without success. The wife o.
Karamani was young and beautiful bur
as yet Allah had not blessed their union
with children. Suddenly it occurred tc
the cloth merchant to make pilgrim
age TO the holy city of Mecca. lie wa:
absent just two years and nine months
but you must know that the pilgrimage
was undertaken purely with view to.
wards yadace- For the cunning Kara.
mani reasoned within himself thus =
s'Wheu 1 return home, after SO long
an absent, my wife will be glad to see
me. She will have forgotten all abou
yadace, or at least viii be thrown off he,
guard. She wiz accept, l viii wage
my beard, present from her long alb
sent husband; particularly if that pres
ent happens to be a diamond ring Q
. orron of .-nl.,o P;run;linl NO iii snn