Arizona weekly enterprise., 1888-12-29

Bombay-Lively Times During the Rainy
 Season - Cheating Impossible - Simple
 Tools of the Game.
 The Bombay police arc at present ex- ercised over . point of public morals which suggests grave reflections to those who imagine thk human nature can be regenerated by act of parliament In England we have done our best to check gambling by the suppression of lotteries, and betting houses, and "hst shops" and by withholding all legal protection from the goose who has backed his fancy and finds it hard to collect the proceeds But still the evil Is not exterminated, and so far as risking money on the performances of horses on race course or of men on the ash path Is concerned, the mischief Is perhaps moro rampant than caer it was. In truth, the ennui of existence, among men with no internal resources or ex- ternal business, must be relieved in some way. And this, the Bombay authorities discovered, is supplied among the native population by means of the rain gambling.
 BETTING ON THE RAINFALL.
 Whether this form of betting Is now or old we are not informed, though, as everything in the east is very anticipated, the chances are that it has been going on from time immemorial, though 1t Is only recently that 1t has come prominently under the notice of the police. All kinds of gambling are. of course. plentiful In m Indian city-from the purchase of lottery tickets to the vulgar excitement of chuck farthing. But the rain gamblers, though not drafted solely from the upper circle of native society, are in Bombay confined, for the most part, to men with some means In vulgar parlance, 1t Is known as "sutta," and consists in betting on the amount of rain which will be discharged from passing cloud.
 Naturally ina country where the sky Is as brass for more than half the year, this form of speculation can be indulged in only during the monsoon season when business is partly suspended and the world generally in western India is peg low" With the southwest monsoon the rainy season in Bombay sets in and lasts with amazing regularity, from the second week in June till near the close of September. At this period the air Is moist and clammy and the citizens move, ss 1t were, in kind of vapor bath, though old residents are fond of declaring that the monsoon Is pleasant enough when one gets sccus- toned to the rain." In any csse 1t gen orally leaves off for an hour or two In the evening, when a ride or walk Is possible. But that is just the period when the rain gambler hies him to the sutta saloon. Tho principal of these haunts-the only ono indeed with which the police seem ao- quainted-is situated tn close proximity to one of the principal police stations. CHEATING 1s IMPOSSIBLE
 According to Q description in local journal the place is perfectly easy of CO., cess, and there is no attempt to hide any thing from the authorities, or from any one else. Nor, in truth, except for the temptation which 1t affords to people with no money to lose to risk their earnings, or, what is worse, the earnings of their employers, rain gambling is about the most innocuous of all forms of betting Cheating is impossible, and though expe- rience counts for something. there can not be any chance of the greenhorn being hoodwinked, since the game is the sim piest imaginable, and the fact of Nature "taking the third hand' in the sport pre- cludes the suspicion of the willy "shroff" manipulating the implements of the game.
 Implements, Indeed, in tho gambling sense of the term, there are none; and, so long as gamester has learned to read the signs of the heavens, the merest tyro has as much chance of winning as the most regular frequenter of the sutta saloon The room is occupied by the stalls of tho shroffs, or bankers, who pay to the owner of the establishment 0 cer- tain percentage of their gains; and to this magnate all disputes are referred, his de- cision. like that of the umpire in cricket match, being final,
 rFLEMENTa OF TIE CAME
 The only tools of any kind in the place are two rough rain gauges One of them consists of a long gutter running along the caves of shed. At one end there Is an aperture, to which is affixed 0 spout through which the water trickles wher the rain comes down in drizzle. But when 1t pours the water shoots over the end of the gutter, and 1t Is on this event happening that bets are laid. The othel gauge is planted in the center of a trough supported on four pillars. some seven feet high, and on the amount of rain whicf will fall in specified time bets also art made From morning to evening thil meteorological and, 1t must be confessed somewhat scientific gambling hell" l. described as crammed with all sorts an( conditions of natives, entering bets ant waiting for the result.
 When heavy black cloud passes over head, every swarthy face Is anxiously up turned, and then wagers are eagerl, made whether 1t will or will not break and as to the amount of rain which vii be discharged from it. The scene Is sal, to be wonderfully picturesque. the variou hued faces, the gay colored garments an the many fashioned costumes of tn gamblers of different races giving tn place a character altogether apart fror the interest which the different passion displayed impart to this curious India, ,, Monte Carlo-London Standard