Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16

/ overlooking the bay is an extensive shrub
berry, where narrow paths twist in and ou
among gnarled and ancient trees, and where
half dozen enormous bowlders heaped to.
gether form a natural arehway or grotto
Here Camoens is supposed to have come
every day to work at his great task. The
place. which is now known as "Camoens
Garden" belongs to q family named Mar.
ques, and by them remarkably fine
bronze bust of the half blind poet, inscribed
"Luiz de Canoes, Nasceo, 1924, Morreo,
1880" was placed in the arch in 1910, upon
a pedestal bearing six cantos of the
"Lusiad," while tributes to him in half a
dozen languages are engraved upon stone
tablets placed around. There is fine
sonnet Of Tasso's and various verses in
Portuguese and Spanish, while Sir John
Bowring's rubbish is unfortunately con-
spicuous:
Gem Of the orient. earth and open sea.
| Macao, thatin thy lap and on thy breast
Hast gathered beauties all the loveiiest
On which the sun smiles in his majesty"
and so on. One degree worse in style, though
thousand times truer are some wonderful
Latin verses perpetrated by a Mr.. David
who laments-
Sed jam vestustas aut manus impia
| Prostravit eheui Triste silentium
Regnare nunc solum vdetur
Per scopulos. virides es umbrasPf
Among all, however, the sincerest seems to
me to be some quaint lines in French, said
to have been written by the Commander of a
French man-of-war, which visited Macao in
1927, and ingeniously dedicated as follows
"Au Grand Luis de Camoens, Portugais dorig-
inc Castillane.
L'hnmble Louis de Rienzi, Francois forigine
voyageur religieux, ,soldat ct poete sxpatrie" {"
This poet, too, was doleful, for, apostro-
phizing Camoens, he says:
"Agite plus que toi, je fuyai dams les champs
Et lie monde, ct mon cBur, Penvie ct les
tyrans"
What the Macanese of to-day think of
Camoens may be judged from the TACT that
tried in vain to borrow or buy IN Macao q
copy of the Lusiad, to see what are the
stanzas engraved on the pedestal, the chisel-
ing having become ilieglble. Camoens
himself was shirwrecked off Malacca on his
way home when pardoned, and swan ashore
with the manuscript of the Lusiad, losing
everything else.
A MARINERS GRAVE.
Curiously enough, by the way, on leaving
the grotto and turning into the old half-de-
serted cemetery came across the tomb Of
an uncle, 1 suppose, Of Lord Randolph
Churchill. 1t is an old-fashioned granite
monument, with the inscription, Sacred to
the Memory of the Right Honde. Lord
Henry John Spencer Churchill, 4th son of
George 5th Duke of Marlborough, Captain of
H:B. NJ. S. Druid and Senior Officer in the
China Seas. Departed this lite in Macao
roads, End June, 1910. This monument is
erected by His Officers in testimony of their
Esteem and Affection
Finally, Macao, as have said, is the
Monaco of the East, and from its gaming
tables its 1mpecunious government reaps
S150, 900 year, the price said to be paid by
the syndicate of Chinese proprietors for the
monopoly. The game is a peculiarly
Chinese one, we'll fitted to afford full scope
to the multitude of refnements and hypo-
thetical Celebrations with which the China
man, the greatest gambler on earth, loves to
surround his favorite vice. 1t is played on
a mat-covered table, with small square of
gilded "cash." On one side stands
the croupier, on the adjoining side
sits the dealer, and between them, a little to
the rear, is the desk and treasury of the
cashier. The sides Of the leaden square are
called one, two, three and four. The dealer
takes up from the heap as many "cash" as
he can grasp with both hands and places
them apart upon the table. Then the play
ers, who sit and stand round the other two
sides of the table, make their bets, that is
they place at either side of the square any
sum, from so cents to $500, or at either
corner any sum up to 81, 500. When all
have done the dealer slowly counts the heap
out in fours and the last remaining four or
=
the winning number. Those who have
placed their money at the corresponding
side of the square, which is called playing |
fan, are paid three to one; those who have |
staked at the corner, covering two numbers,
or playing tan. are paid even money if |
either number wins. From all winnings |
the bank deducts 8 per cent.
A COMPLICATED GAME.
Besides the above ways, there are many |
others of infinite complication, scored with |
buttons and cards and ivory counters, which |
no fellow except Celestial can possibly un-
derstand. But they play with the greatest
eagerness, the coolie who works week to
save his dollar, the shopkeeper who calmly
stakes his watch and chain ii he Is short of
ready money, and the well-to-do merchant,
who watches the game for half an hour to
Judge of the chances and then lays down
his hundred dollar bill and walks impertur-
bably away whatever the result may be. OF
course everybody asks. cannot the dealer
after years of practice take up fixed num-
Der of "cash" according TO the sums staked
upon the table? 1t seems probable, but 1
have watched him for a long time and 1 am
convinced that if he could it would in
nearly all cases be impracticable, for many
reasons, And many people, too,
ask themselves il there is not martin
gale" or System" by which the individ-
ual player can so enormously in
crease the odds in his own favor
against the bank as to make
winning almost a certainty? There is,
namely, to bet as much each time as will if
Il win recoup you for all previous losses
and leave a margin of profit. Thus you
,an play and win II one number out of four
turns up once in 25 throws, when your
stake will have reached the limit of $500
and you must per.oree stop. To do this,
however, capital of over 81 900 must be
subjected to small risk, and few of the
ordinary players at iantan are prepared to
10 this. On the other hand, it is common
enough to see 81, 900 on the table for single
leal on Saturday nights, when the rich
dongkong brokers come over. Most
rambling systems are pitfalls, but 1 am
convinced that If 20 men with large capi-
ais were to come and play at one table at
me time on this system properly calcu-
ated, the bank would inevitably be
broken. Therefore fantan would not work
n the West. HENRY NORMAN.
EUDGER AND NUDGEE.