Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1879-08-13
Eantan.


game of the Chinese, and is played by
beggar and prince with equal avidity.
A correspondent gives an interesting
account of the game as played in gam
bling house at Macao, situated at the
entrance of the Canton river. Gaudily
painted lanterns of immense size and
ornamented with a multitude of cabal-
istic signs swung in front of the portal
which was further adorned by num-
Der of slips of red paper covered with
Chinese characters and a quantity of
tiny oil lamps. On gaining the top of
the narrow staircase We found our
selves in a room furnished in the usual
Chinese fashion, with polished wood
en- stools and tables ranged all round
on all sides with carved ornaments dec
Grating the walls. About half way
across one side extended a high table
very much in the fashion of bar cOun-
ter in a first-class American saloon,
except that the top of it was covered
with mating instead of being polished.
Behins this, in the middle, sat the high
priest of "FaItan," an enormous cor
pulent Chinamau, in very capacious
and comfortable armchair his legs
tucked away beneath him and "wat-
err pipe at his elbow, from which
ever and anon he inhaled Whit or
two of the coarse tobacco generally IN
use among the natives. He was the
dealer" and he bestowed a very
friendly recognition upon our host
as we entered. Next TO the dealer
at the banker, a sharp-eyed and
sharp featured man, who had before
him large box containing money in
bank-notes, gold and silver, and an
"abacus" which Cinnamon always use
to assist them in calculating. Two or
three other "solid" looking Celestials in
long blue gowns also sat in sort of re-
cess behind the table, silently smoking
and occasionally prOtruding hand,
adorned with very long finger nails,
with which they altered the position of
certain small circular bits of jade on the
table which represented the stakes of
gamblers who were not present, but
who still participated in the fortunes of
the game, being quite content to trust
the honesty of the proprietors as TO the
winning or losing. Right in front OF
the dealer. and rivetted tc the table.
was a piece of white metal about one
foot square. This is theTOm Fiddler s
ground upon which the gamblers try
their luck. The four sides represent
the numbers one, two, three and four
that next to the dealer being number
one and that next to the players num-
Der four. The game commences by the
dealer taking handful of bright new
cash from heap at his right hand.
putting them in a separate heap at bis
left and covering them over with a lit
tie brass cup. Then the players put
their stakes on the table on whichever
side of the metal square it may please
them. One thousand dollars is the limit
in the Macao gambling houses, but the
smallest coin is not rejected, and is not
an unfrequent occurrence 10 see the
European or American ''punter" risk
ing a roll of bank-notes alongside COO
lie who Is stolidly "buckIng the tiger"
with two or three .'cash" at a time.
Considering that one hundred ''cash" J"
equal only one cent, the passion for
play, it will be seen, can be gratified at
small cost. When all have stahed the
dealer removes the brass cover from
the small pile OF ''cash," and with an
ivory -'chOp-stick" proceeds TO count
the coin out by fours. He takes care to
bare his arm. and counts slowly and
delicately, removing each cash by the
hole in its center, so that everybody
NAV '.see fair; The excitement
grows more and more intense as the
pile gradually diminishes, and the
more aeute and experienced gamblers
often are able to announce the winning
number when yet quite quantity OF
cash remain untouched. \ moment
and the pile is reduced to small dimen-
sions. Cat, yee, sam, see," count:
the dealer Zone, two, three, four
"gat, yee, sam, see" ''gat, yee-e-t
sa-am,' Three "cash" remain as the
balance of the heap, and SO three is fol
this tine the winning number. Th'
banker thereupon sweeps in all tn
money that has been staked on mum
bers one, two and four, and then pay
over to those who put their money ol
number three three times the amOun
of their investment, minus eight and
half per cent, which is the profit al
lowed TO the bank. Tea and other re
freshments-brandy and soda for tn
Europeans, ofcourse-is handed roun
by the 'boys" and the game recon
mences. The room was full of peopl
all the time, and the two galleries tina
ran round it were also occupied b
players who let down their stakes in
small basket provided for the purpos
and gave directions to the dealer wher
TO place it. One dried up old Chin;
man in this gallery won $1,000 in thre
deals, simply leaving his stakes on tn
same side all the time. Neither til
dealer nor the banker evinced tn
smallest degree Of emotion whether I'll
table won or lost and they never spOh
except in monosyllables.
A Remarkable somnambuIst.