The Portland daily press., 1888-04-18
IN FOREIGN LANDS:
Scenes in the Riviera Monte Carlo
and it's Gambling HalIs-Mentone,
San Reno and Nice-The Birthplace
of the Discoverer of America.
Corresponding Of the Press.l

Correspondence of the Press.]
NICE, March, 1888.
How can describe this delightful Riviera,
this land of sunshine of flowers and of song!
The lofty mountains shelter it, the blue eyes
of the Mediterranean watch over it, and the
breezes, which the sunny skies of Italy make
soft and balmy, fan it. The Italians name it
the Riviera, the Frenchscall it La Cornische,
and we Americans style it the Mediterra-
mean. 1t is really the three together. The
northern Riviera includes the route from
Genoa north to Nice, and is that section
which winds along the shores Of the Medit-
erranean, forming a cornice to the lofty,
mountainous table-land which towers high
above. and believe if this is not the most
delightful spot, it is ene of the few thorough
ly delightful places on the globe. 1t is re-
gion typical of Heaven, for it is itself an
earthly Paradise. The good have not all
come here, to be sure, and those who here
abide have not cast off all unrighteousness,
but the most of these cities are as free from
all that can disturb the aesthetic tastes as
man can build. If Monte Carlo is not
Heaven of gamblers it is a fitting model
from which to build an abode for the blest,
for in the whole city there is not one un-.
slightly or distasteful thing, or anything
which could mar the most capricious fancy.
The entire city seems like one highly culti-
vated garden with everything in harmony
The air itself is filled with sweet choruses.
The people who walk the streets talk softly
and deport themselves chivalrously. Inside
the great Casino, where the superb gambling
halls are found, the scene changes, but not
discordantly. Everything is there which is
aristocratic and elegant. All that is lofty
in manners. distinguished in breeding, COM
mendable to the senses and pleasing to the
eye is found there. 1t is unique in all its
appointments. Voices of sirens benumb the
senses to all hut pleasure. But in all these
vast halls, filled with multitudes OF people,
not one audible sound is heard. The
hundreds. of people sitting round the gilded
tables look like the pictures of the old
money changers whom Jesus drove out of
the Temple. They are oDlvlous to all
which goes on about them. They hear
nothing, see no one, only the tdpis cert
before them. The dearest friend behind
them seems to be no more to them than the
Law figure they just left at their furnishing
house. Their eyes are fixed and muscles
tense almost as ii in a trance; hectic cheek
and drawn lips in rare cases bespeak emo
tion: but a spectator, by no sign can tell
who is losing and who is winning those shin
ing niles. which the tiny trowels are ever rak-
ING in. Middle aged men and elderly women
sit nnmoyed. and at intervals count their
gains or reckon their losses. There are no
Young faces there. Whether the young in
wears have not hardened themselves in
worldliness sufficiently to take a part, or
whether the semblance of youth is there
ohliterated | do not know. As night deep
ans the spectacle becomes little weird and
ehastlv. The general hush, the slight click
of the gold and silver, the breathless inter
est of the spectators would all be too intense
and hecome intolerable were it not for the
wealth. fashion and beauty gliding about
from room to room, and the sound of distant
music from the concert hall not too far
away. | suppose the people must change
every few hours but it seems, ever much the
| same; from early morning until rery early
morning there is no breaking up.
Some of the tables are covered with piles
| and niles of shining silver and who is to
| lose or win is recorded by the quickly re-
volying roulette. AT other tables mountains
of great gold pieces are won by the chances
which certain games of cards. in the hands
of those in authority, mete out. Everything
| is carried on with extreme fairness and to
the satisfaction of all. Each man who
CANDLES soon comes to have system by
which for long time he wins; millions of