Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-10

handing it to his next neighbor. The liquor
is served hot. 1t contains about Is per
cent of alcohol, and its properties are such
that it quickly mounts to the head. The
Amos, the race of hairy savages, who in
habit the north of Japan, are a nation of
drunkards. They believe that drink came
from the gods, and think that man is very
close to heaven when he is under its infu-
ence.
In Japan proper, / saw much drinking
but very little drunkenness, and during my
whole year in Asia, mixing with all classes
of the people, and going into all sorts of
slums, I saw fewer drunken men than L
have seen on a single Saturday night in
Presbyterian Glasgow or in Episcopallan
London. If the Mongolisn or the Indian
drinks to the same excess as does his Cau-
casian brother, he does it in secret. And as
to drunken women, saw not single one
in my whole Asiatic tour. The only ap-
proach to it was in the imitation of drunk
enness bv two pretty japanese geisha girls
on a miniature stage at Nikko. This was
at a picnic given by Mr.. Charles Flint, the
Eastern manager of the Waterbury Watch
Company, at which he had engaged these
girls to sing to, and play for, the guests.
GAMBLING FOR DINNERS.
Gambling is naturally associated with
drinking, and all of the Eastern nations are
fond of games of chance. The Chinese are
the greatest gamblers in the world. The
man who works for cents day and who
has l cent set aside for his supper, will go
to a cook stand and invest that cent upon
the little lottery which the man runs in con-
nection with it. If he win he may get two
dinners, if he lose he goes without. At
TieD Tsin every peddler of cakes and boiled
bread has a bamboo tube as big around as a
tumbler and in this there are a number of
sticks about the length of a knitting needle,
and of the size of slate pencil. On the
ends of some of these sticks there are num-
bers, while others are blank. The numbers
are on the ends of the sticks which are
stuck into the tube, and the purchaser paws
SO much a draw, If he pull out a stick
with a number on it he has the number of
cakes represented by it, if not, he gets
nothing. A common game at Chinese din
ners is the guessing the number of fingers
which one man thrusts out quickly before
the eyes OF his neighbors. If the guess is
wrong the guesser has to take a drink of
samshu.
Fan-tan is the greatest Chinese game of
chance. 1t Is played everywhere, and it is
usuallyrun by stock companies in houses
called tan koon. These houses have two
rooms, in one of which cash or copper coins
alone are played for, and in the other of
which silver and gold are used. A fan-tan
table has four numbers on it, one. two, three
and four, and it takes three men to manage
the game. At the head sits the croupier,
who has great pile of copper cash, each
with little square hole in its middle and
each as big around as red cent.
PLAYING FAN-TAN.
He gathers up double handful of these
and puts them under a tin basin. The
gamblers who stand around the table then
put their money on one of the four numbers,
and as they do so che shrOff, or cashier, of
the game takes an account of them and
looks to see that the money is not counter
felt. A third man connected with the game
is also present to pay over the money to the
winners. As soon as the game is ready the
basin is taken off and the croupier, by pok-
ing an ivory rod into the hole of the cash,
draws away four at a time. The
number last left at the last drawing
decides the winning or the losing. If the
money comes out even and four cash are
left the money of four wins. And if three
or two are left those putting their money on
four save the amount of their stake. All
on number one lose. 1t is in the same ratio
on the other numbers, and the gambler has
one chance of winning, two of not losing
anything, and one chance of losing. This
is one species of fan-tan. Another is where