Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-01-12

AhNNby itiC yuTIE III lknlny
Season - Cheating Impossible - Simple
Tools Of the Game.
The Bombay police are at present ex.
erclsed over a point OF public morals
which suggests grave reflections to those
who imagine that 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 'list shops" and
by withholding all legal protection from
the goose who has backed his fancy and
finds it hard to collect the proceeds. But
stu the evil is not eX~terminated, and SO
far as risking money on the performances
oil horses on a race course or Of men on
the ash path is concerned, the mischief is
perhaps more rampant than Ser il was.
In truth, ennui Of existence, among
men with no internal esource or eX-
ternal bus. ness, must be relieved in some
way. And this, the Bombay authorities
discovered, Is supplied among the native
population by means Of the ain gambling
BETTING On THE RAINFALL.
Whether this form of betting Is new or
old we are not Informed, though, as
everything in the east is very antiquated,
the chances are that it has been going on
from time immemorial, though IL is only
recently that il has come prominently
under the notice Of the police. All kinds
Of gambling are, of course, plentiful in an
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, it is known
as "sutta," and consists in betting on the
amount Of rain which will DO discharged
from a passing cloud.
Naturally ina country where the sky Is
as brass for more than half the year, this
form of speculation can be INDUCED in
only during the monsoon season when
business is partly suspended and the world
generally in western India is a 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, as it were, in
a kline Of vapor bath, though old residents
are fond Of declaring that the monsoon is
pleasant enough when one gets accus-
toned to the rain" In any case il 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 HES him 10 the sutta saloon. The
principal of these haunts-the only one
indeed with which the police seem ac-
quaiuted-is situated in close proximity
TO ON of the principal police stations.
CHEATING IS IMPOSSIBLE.
According TO a description in q local
journal the place is perfectly easy Of &C
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 it affords to people with
no money TO lose 70 risk their earnings,
or, what is worse, the earnings of their
employers, rain gambling is about the
most innocu0us of all forms of betting
Cheating is impossible, and though expo
Renee counts for something. there cun
not be any chance of the g%reenhorn being
hoodwinked, suce the game is the sim.
plcst imaginable, and the fact Of Nature
taking the third hand IN the sport pre-
Guides the suspicion OF the willy "shroff'
manipulating the implements Of the
game.
IlalIltnitItS fiitittt, III INC BtiiBiiiB
sense Of the term. there are none; and,
SO long as a 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 the shroifs, or bankers, who pay
to the owner Of the establishment a Ger
tain percentage of their gains; and tothis
maguate all disputes are referred, his de.
cision, like that Of the umpire in a cricket
match, being final.
IMPLEMENTS 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 n shed. At one end there is
an aperture, TO which is atfi xed a spout,
through which the water trickles when
the rain comes down in IA drizzle. But
when it pours the water shoots over the
end of the gutter, and 1t is Oh this event
happening That bets are laid. The other
gauge is planted in the center Of trough,
supported on four pillars, some seven feet
high. and on the amount Of rain which
will fall in a specified time bets also are
made. From morning to evening this
meteorological and, it must be confessed,
somewhat scientific gambling hell is
described as crammed with all sorts and
conditions Of natives, entering bets and
waiting for the result.
When a heavy black cloud passes owe
head, every swarthy face is anxiously up
turned, and then wagers are eagerly
made whether it will or will not break.
and as to the amount of rain which will
be discharged from 1T. The scene is said
to be wonderfully picturesque. the various
hued faces, the gay colored garments and
the many fashioned costumes of the
gamblers of different races giving the
place a character altogether apart from
the interest which the different passions
displayed impart to this curious Indian
Monte Carlo. London Standard.