The Savannah morning news., 1903-02-22

mai WIN the Romans nor was the use
of bones for dice confined to them. The
ancient Peruvians used the astragalus
bone of the COW or OK, the North Amer
lean Indians used the bone from the
bison, and bones from sheep and other
animals are used to-day throughout
Southern Europe, Spanish America, and
IN most of the MOhammedan countries.
From the oldest times to the pres
ent, one of the important rules in
throwing knuckle bones has been, and
is, that the bones must be changed fire.
quently. The crooked" gambler load
ed those simple dice ages ago, and does
now.
All the Worlds Dice.
Besides knuckle bones, the old Ro-
mans used dice made from all sorts of
material from rock crystal to mete-
oric iron. And the gambler knew
what to do with them. OF more than
100 gaming tables found in ancient
Rome, a good score We're fitted with
ingenious devices to make the dice
| come" in the manner best adapted to
separate the player from his sesterces.
The great and noble Assurbanipal
of Assyria loved to daily with the ku-
hos. They were dice made of glazed
baked clay. Besides being a great
gambler Assurbanipal was a great art
collector like Mr.. Garfield, and he left
fine library of earthen tiles full of
the history of his life and other moral
stories.
Wherever ancient dice are found al
sorts of receptacles are found with
them, shaped in many ways, but all
| devised to make the gambler shake
fair" An old Etruscan dice cup of this
kind is conical with the interior form
ed of different steps, to prevent the
Son of Fortune from giving his ma
and extraneous aid.
The father of all the gambling
games was a game which still is the
national game of Korea under the
name of Nyout. 1t is played with a
board marked out with a series of cir
! cles. The players use four slaves
which they throw as dice are thrown,
and, according to their throws, they
| move counters around the board
The counters are called 'men" in
Korea. as they are called in practical
| ly all the world. The name originated
| with the ancient Chinese, who were as
nveterate gamblers then as they are
| now.
The Papa of EN- All.
Nyout is the prototype of all the mod
| ern games known as Fox and Geese,
| Game of Geese, Steeple Chase, Snake
| Game, and the scores of others that are
| based on the same principle.
| The old Hindoo game of Pachesi,
known in this country as Parcheesi,
also is based on the game of Nyout.
| The University of Pennsylvania has
| collected las games of different coun-
| tries all based directly on the Game of
| Goose and indirectly on the game of
| Nyout.
A popular Korean form of the game
| that is played much to-day is Tyjong-
i Kyong-To, in which a five-sided stave
| is 1ISe6 instead Of cI1biC cal dice
| A primitive and simple form of game
| is used by Philippine gamblers. They
| call it Pungitan. The players draw a
| two-foot ring on the ground or floor
with small ring of about an inch in
diameter drawn in the center. In 1t
lies a small she'll Each player has Il
| somewhat larger white shell which he
throws to see who shall play first The
shell that falls mouth up wins.
The winning player then places his
she'll at any point on the edge of the
big circle and shoots it at the small
shell in the middle circle. If he sue
ceeds in knocking the little shell clean
out of the large circle, he wins what
| ever has been staked.
| The Arapaho Indians use five dice of
| buffalo bone marked on one side with
burned designs. The dice cup is
| woven grass basket nine inches in di-
ameter and two inches deep. The game
! is played by tossing the dice up from
the basket and letting them drop back
into it. The players score according to
| the points made. The Arapaho women
often stake everything except their
more or less immortal souls In this
| game.
The unlaundered Eskimo plays with
| ivory dice carved into images of birds.
| These are shaken in the hand and
| thrown upwards. The winner is he
who throws so that the greatest num-
| Der of dice land in an upright position.
slaves the First OUTFIT.
The use of slaves as dice is the most
| ancient form of gambling and is still
the most widespread among all races
except the highly civilized, who appar-
emily prefer hold-outs and other eau
| casian products of culture.
Almost all the Indians of America
from Cape Horn to Alaska use slaves
in some form or other. Sometimes
they are used in the form of arrows
which are thrown as far as possible by
the players At other times they use
| beautifully colQred and marked staves
which have values according to their
markings
Many Chinese, East Indian, and
Pacific Island gambling games of to-
day are played with slaves or throw
sticks.
The sad thing about it Is that gam
bling with slaves originated as a reli-
gious ceremony in the days of incan-
tations and divination. The slaves
were used then by the soothsayers and
priests to foretell events. Thus they
were used by the Persians, the Scyth-
ians and the old Germans. But wick
ed humanity soon seized on the sacred
emblems to get wealth without work.
ing too hard for it.
Even the Mayans learned to gam
BILE from their priests. One of the fin
est color pictures of the Mayans that
is still in existence shows a diagram
that was used for a gambling game
similar to both the Asiatic Nyout and
Pachesi. This picture-the famous
Fejervary codex-shows a divinatory,
calendrical counting circuit.
Playing Cards.
The playing card followed the stave
naturally.
The first cards We're used in Eastern
Asia. They were long and narrow.
They ran from $50 to AZ to a pack.
Some Of the very finest were used
in early ages by the Hindoos, who de-
veloped hundreds of games of chance
and skill and brought them TO high
state of ingenuity Many of their cards
were of Immense value, being made of
fine Iacquers and painted with the rich
est colors by artists of striking talent.
The Chinese also have produced many
beautiful cards.
The Hindoo court cards bear repre-
senta tions of the ten avators of Wish