The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-08-13

boris kite by rubbing his kite string
against it, and when one Of the glass
busted strings touched an ordinary cord
it sawed through it like a knife, and the
kite thus loosened sailed away or dropped
to the ground. 1t seemed odd that the
people were so excited by these kite fights
until 1 learned that every man and
every boy had bet on his kite, and that
all sorts Of sums from pennies to dollars
were resting on the strength or sharpness
of a string.
PORTO RICO's MONTE CARLO.
1 visited the old Monte Carlo of Porto
Rico on my trip across the island on the
military road. This was at Coamo Hot
Springs, among the mountains a few miles
back from. the coast Here there is a
large rambling hotel and many cottages,
all Of which during the dsys of the Span
iards were filled with health seekers and
gamblers, especially gamblers. Porto Ric-
ans from every part of the island and
the weather. people of the neighboring
West Indies spent their vacations at
Coamo for the games and the bath. The
hotel had many roulette and monte tables,
and gambling. went on as regularly as at
Monte Carlo on the Mediterranean. Since
the advent of the Americans the sporting
feature of Coamo has been taken away.
The hotel has been sold to a New Eng
land party, and the springs will probably
be the Saratoga Springs Of Porto Rico.
They are of great volume. The water
steams as It rushes forth, and there is
so much of it that 1t gives the great bath
houses a continuous flow. 1t is just pleas
antly warm, and it has such medicinal
properties that it is claimed 1t Will soak
all diseases out of the system. Inc sur
roundngs of Coano are exceedingly beau
tiful. Mountains covered with sem-trop-
ical vegetation rise up around II, ana the
breezes from the sea keep the leaves OF
the banana and the palm in constant mo-
ton. -
MONTE AND ROULETTE.
Two of the favorite8 games of Porto
Rico are monte and roulette. Monte Is
much like our faro. Bets are mace upon
turning of card. Roulette is played
with a table, in whose center is horl-
zontal revolving wheelE which slopes TO-
ward the rim. About khe soutside OF the
rim are numbered holes, corresponding TO
| figures on the table. The croup1er or
manager of the game gives the WheeI a
| whirl and then drops marble upon IT,
| In the meantime each of the betters mas
placed his money upon certain OF the
| figures. If the marble, when the wheel
stops, drops into the hole having the
| same figures as he has chosen, the Win
ner receives from the croupier thirty-hve
times the amount of money he has VEN
| tured; if not it goes to the bank. There
are a number Of combinations In the
game upon which bets can be made, but
in each of them, as in this, the percentage
is largely in favor of the table.
! These games are always played on feast
| days and at all places where large num-
| bers of the people come together. AT
! Mayaguez there is one feast during the
| winter which lasts for more than week.
The poor people of the country save their
money for it, and day or so before 1t
begins the town is filed with profess
| sional gamblers, who open up their games
| both inside and outside the city.
There are now about 0,G00 men at work
upon the roads. On pay days the gam
blers gather about the gangs and tempt
them to play away their wages as soon
as they are paid.
| The poor are to be seen gambling in
| almost every saloon, and there are gam
bling houses, under the names of clubs,
In the larger cities, such as Ponce, San
Juan and Mayaguez, which are patron
ized by the rich. Our soldiers have in
| itiated the members Of these clubs into
the American game Of poker, and that to
their sorrow; for the Porto Ricans so
| far have won rather than lost. They are
pold gamblers, ana IL is by no means Sa1e
to tempt them with a bluff.
GAMBLING AMONG OUR SOLDIERS.
Speaking Of the soldiers, many of those
who have come to Porto Rico are invet-
crate card players. On the transport
which brought me to San Juan there was
a game going on upon deck, and I find
! that there is considerable gambling
among the troops here. At Ponce the
soldiers have a little poker den in the
rear of an American bakery, where they
While away the weary hours at roulette,
faro and poker Other such games are
largely patronized by the. soldiers in one
of the saloons at San Juan, and there is
not much difficulty in finding chances to
lose your money at Mayaguez
PORTO RICO's FAvoRITE GAME.
| The most of the money won and lost by
the Porto Ricans themselves is on cock
! lighting. Almost every man and boy on
the island bets more or less on such con-
| tests. Every city and every village has
| Its cockpit and thousands of cock fights
go on every week outside the public pit
The people see nothing brutal in it.
| They grow very angry If you accuse them
Of bull fighting. A young lady met