Chapter III: Part 3

The woman cut the hole; first she took the raccoon out from the tree, and then she took the skull out. She cooked the raccoon, then she took the stomach of the raccoon for a bag, and melted down the raccoon fat, put it in the stomach bag and sewed it up. She hid it from the skull; she had a purpose in doing this, and the skull did not know that she had done it, and she carried the bag with her. They stopped twice more during their journey; each time the woman did as the skull directed, and each time she made the bag and filled it and sewed it up, and the skull did not see her.

The fourth time the woman hunted for a very large tree, and when she had found it she dropped the skull into the hole and then ran off by herself. The skull called: “I have killed the raccoon. Now let me out.” No answer. Then the skull knew the woman had left, and said:—

“Wherever you go I shall find you and have my revenge.”

It commenced to gnaw a place in the tree to let itself out, and it took it a day and a half to make a hole large enough to get through. When it came out, it went along, saying:—

“Wherever you go I shall find you and have my revenge.”

By and by the woman heard the skull saying that, and she took the bag of raccoon grease and threw it at the skull; it went all over it, and it could not go on, and while it stopped to clean itself the woman ran on ahead.

But the skull caught up to her, and she heard it say:—

“Wherever you go I shall find you and have my revenge.”

Then the woman stopped and threw another bag at the skull, and it had to stop and clean itself.

The third time it caught up to her, and she threw another bag of grease at it. But the fourth time the woman went on till she came to a woods, but the skull could not reach the woods until the next morning for it had to cross a creek, and so it went back on the side of the hill and had to roll down and so cross the creek. The woman found an old man in the forest making bows and arrows, and she asked him to protect her from the skull, but he paid no attention.

“Brother, help me! Protect me!” But he took no notice of her.

“Uncle, protect me!” He paid no attention.

“Father, protect me from the skull!” He did not notice.

“Grandfather,” she called, “Help me! Protect me!”

“That is the relationship,” he said. He was an immense man, and his long hair was done up in a big knot on the back of his head. He told her to untie it and get in there, so she did so. And he told her to sit there and wait until he was ready. After a while he went on making bows and arrows.

Presently the skull came up and went round and round the old man, saying:—

“Old man give me my woman.”

But the old man was silent. Then, said the skull:—

“Give me the woman I was running after.”

But the old man would not answer.

When the skull asked for the woman the fourth time, the old man said:—

“I am tired of you.” So he took a bow and broke the skull in pieces, and he said to the woman:—

“Get down and gather up these pieces. Pile them up, and set them on fire. After you set them on fire, whatever you see, don’t you touch it. You will be punished if you do.”

When the woman saw the fire going down she espied a comb.[7] She picked it up and hid it in her blanket, but it burned her side so badly that she died. The old man said:—

“I told you not to pick up anything, but you did so. I punish you. Disobedience brings its own punishment.”

“Is that all?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“When Carey told it to me, he said the old man hit the skull and it went into the air; when it came down it turned into knives, forks, thimbles, threads, awls, wax, needles, and scissors. The man told the woman to come down from his hair but not to pick up anything that was on the ground; if she did he would punish her. And the old man went off and sat down under a tree. She tried to pick up a pair of scissors; when she did so her hands dropped off. That is the way Carey told it.”

“Carey did not get it right. This is a very old story, and at the time it was first told we never knew of such things as knives, forks, awls, or scissors. Carey has added that, or some of the younger people have told it that way because they now use these things. But I have told it to you the old way, and that is the right way.”

_George Truman Kercheval._

EXHIBIT OF GAMES IN THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

Primitive Religions, and Folk-lore, including Games, are the subject of a special section in the Anthropological Building at the Columbian Exposition. This section, which is known as the “Section of Religions, Games, and Folk-lore,” is located upon the main floor, where the exhibit occupies a series of cases on the south side and a line of flat cases which extend across the entire building.

Folk-lore is the name given to the material which has come down to us in the sayings and customs of mankind. Its study, for which no special name has been devised, is an important branch of the science of anthropology.

The chief object of the collection is to show things which illustrate folk traditions and customs. The field being a vast one, the collection has been practically restricted to the subject of games. The basis of the collection was formed in the Museum of Archaeology of the University of Pennsylvania during the past two years. The University’s collection has been supplemented by exhibits from individuals and the leading manufacturers of games in this country.

The objects are classified and arranged for comparative study, games of the same general sort being placed together. They are contained in twelve table cases running from the southernmost entrance on the west side to the corresponding entrance on the east side. Puzzles and the simple games of children commence the series.

CASE I.
PUZZLES, CHILDREN’S GAMES, MANCALA.

The ingenious objects which we designate as “puzzles” are represented by about one hundred and twenty-five specimens exhibited by the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. They begin with a collection of East Indian puzzles “invented” by Aziz Hussan of Saharanpore, among which may be seen many types of puzzles that are common in Europe and America. The Chinese puzzles of wood, bone, and ivory follow them. Chinese puzzles, long a household word, are very limited in number. Those which are made for export are invariable in form, and consist of the familiar “Ring Puzzle,” the “Geometrical Puzzle,” and the “Dissected Cube.” Their Chinese names are all descriptive, and the “Ring Puzzle,” which they call “The Nine Interlinked Rings,” was probably borrowed by Chinese from India. The number of types in the entire series of puzzles is surprisingly small. The one that was revived some years since under the name of the “Fifteen Puzzle,” and which was described by an English writer some two hundred years ago, has suggested a large group. “Pigs in Clover,” an American invention, is the most recent addition to the world’s amusements of this character, and its wide diffusion and popularity is shown here in a great variety of specimens from different countries.

Some of the simpler amusements of children are suggested by the objects on the north side of this case. Here are to be seen Mr. William Wells Newell’s “Games and Songs of American Children,” and “The Counting-out Rhymes of Children,” by Dr. H. Carrington Bolton, two books which may be regarded as classical in their particular field. Mr. Pak Yong Kiu, of the Corean Commission to the Columbian Exposition, has furnished the following interesting addition to the collection of children’s counting-out rhymes:—

Hau al ta
Tu al da
Som a chun
Na al da,
Yuk nong,
Ku chi,
Pol ta,
Chong kun,
Ko tu ra,
Biong.

The wide diffusion of the custom of using counting-out rhymes among children, and the general resemblance they bear to each other, present problems of curious interest.

Among the imitative games of children, there are few more interesting than the Toros or mock bull-fight of Spanish boys. A wicker mask from Madrid, representing the bull’s head, which is used in this sport, is suspended beside this case, within which may be seen the toy _espadas_ or swords and the _banderillios_. Tops are shown to be of great antiquity and of very general use over the earth. Their age is illustrated by a wooden top from the Fayum, Egypt, discovered by Mr. Flinders Petrie at Kahûn, belonging to 2800 B. C. They were common among the American Indians, north and south. A number of balls of baked clay and stone, which were whipped in a game on the ice, represent the primitive tops of the Sioux, while a more recent Sioux top of wood with a peg of brass shows foreign influences. Among the Omahas tops were called _Moo de de ska_, a name which Mr. Francis La Flesche says is not descriptive. The explorations conducted for the Department by Mr. George A. Dorsey in Peru have contributed several interesting specimens to this collection. Two prehistoric tops from Ancon are identical in form with the ancient Egyptian top, while another from an ancient grave at Arica is distinguished by a spindle, not unlike the modern tops of Japan. The use of pop-guns among the ancient Peruvians is also shown by two beautifully carved specimens of wood contained in a llama skin pouch, from an ancient grave in Cañete valley. Popguns were used by many if not all of the American Indian tribes. Among the Omahas the children made them of willow branches, and then, by partly stopping one end, would convert them into squirt-guns. The toy squirt-gun sold in the Chicago shops is here shown beside the syringe from India used in the Hindu _Holi_ Festival.

Jackstraws, which are known in England as “Spillikins” and in France as _Les Jonchets_, are next in order. The peculiar Chinese name appended to the Chinese specimens, “Eight Precious Things,” suggests the probability that China was the country from which we derived them.

The remainder of this case is devoted to the implements for a game that holds an unique position among the world’s games, and for which no place could be found in the series that follow. It is variously played with pebbles, shells, and seeds in holes dug in the ground, or upon a board with cup-like depressions. The game appears to be found wherever Arab influence has penetrated. It is very generally played in Africa, in Asia Minor, and in India. Two boards are exhibited, one brought from Jerusalem for the University Museum by Mrs. John Harrison of Philadelphia, and another from the Gaboon River in Africa. The Syrians in the Damascus house in the Turkish village in the Midway Plaisance know it under the name of _Mancala_, and it is a favorite game with the Chief of the Dahomey village, who frequently plays it with his son before his hut in the Plaisance. Among the so-called Dahomeyans this game is called _Madaji_, the board _adjito_, and the seeds which they use, _adji_. It is a game for two persons. As played in Syria, there are several forms of the game. One is called _lâ’b madjnuni_, or the “Crazy Game.” Ninety-eight cowrie shells are used, which are distributed unequally in the fourteen holes in the board, which is placed transversely between the two players. The first player takes all the pieces from the hole at the right of his row and drops them, one at a time, in the first hole on the opposite side, and so on, continuing around the board until the last one is let fall. He thereupon takes all the pieces from that hole and distributes them one by one as before, until, arriving at the last piece, he takes all the pieces again in his hands. This is continued until the last piece dropped either falls into an empty hole or completes two or four in the hole in which it falls. In the latter case the player takes the two or four for his own, as well as the contents of the hole opposite, and should there be two or four in the next hole or holes to the one at which he stopped, he also takes them with those opposite. The players continue in turn, and when the game is finished the one gaining the highest number of cowries wins. If a player’s last piece falls in an empty hole, his turn is ended. Skill is of no avail in this form of the game, the result always being a mathematical certainty, accordingly as the cowries are distributed at the beginning.

CASE II.
BALLS, QUOITS, MARBLES.

The antiquity of the ball as an implement of sport is attested by the balls found associated with objects used in other games in old Egypt, where it was known at least 4,700 years ago. Games of ball are common among savage and barbarous people, and ball games of Burma, Siam, India, and Japan, as well as those of the North American Indians, are suggested in this case. With the ball games are the sticks used in a widely diffused game which we commonly know as “Tip-cat.” Tip-cat is played with a block of wood, about six inches in length, which is struck with a small club or bat and knocked into the air. The rules for playing are somewhat complicated, and as far as they have been compared, appear to be much the same all over the earth. The oldest specimen is from Kahûn, Egypt, of 2800 B. C. Tip-cat is known by the Syrians in the Plaisance, who have contributed the sticks they use in the game they call _Hab_. In Persia it is called _Guk tchub_, “frog-wood,” a name given to it, like our name “cat,” from the way the small stick leaps into the air. In China the game is called _Ta-pang_, “to knock the stick,” and the Chinese laborers in the United States call the “cat” _To tsz_, or “Little Peach.” In Japan the game is called _In ten_; the small stick _ko_, “son,” and the long one _oya_, “parent.” In India the game is called _Gutti danda_; in Burma, _Kyitha_, and in Russian _Kosley_, “goat,” a suggestive name like that of Persia and our own name, “cat.”

The wicker baskets or _cestas_ for the Spanish game of ball or _Pelota_, now so popular in Spain, are next shown, with the flat bat used by the Spaniards in ball games. A very ancient English bat for trap ball appears with them, and these are followed by the implements used in the current American and English ball games exhibited by Messrs. A. G. Spalding & Bros. of Chicago. Cricket, Baseball, Football, Golf, Polo, La Crosse and Lawn Tennis, Racket and Battledore and Shuttlecock, are displayed in order, and with the last are exhibited the Zuñi Indian and the Japanese form of this game and the Chinese shuttlecock, which is kicked with the toes. The tossing games comprise Jackstones, Cup and Ball, Grace Hoops, and Quoits, and ring games of various kinds, and include the iron quoits _Rayuelas_, used in Spain. The stone quoit games of the Zuñis, and of the Tarahumara Indians are also exhibited. The North American Indian forms of the Cup and Ball game comprise the _Ar-too-is_, or “match-making” game of the Penobscots, exhibited by Chief Joseph Nicolar of Oldtown Me., and the Sioux game played with the phalangal bones of the deer. The comparatively new game “Tiddledy winks” follows, leading up to a recent German game called the “Newest War Game,” in which the men or “winks” are played upon a board upon which are represented two opposing fortresses. The games of tossing cowries and coins are next suggested, with the game played by Chinese children with olive seeds. Many natural objects are exhibited that are used by children in playing games resembling marbles, to which artificial objects they appear to lead. In Burma the seeds of a large creeper, the _Eutada Pursoetha_, are employed in a game called _Gohunyin_, one of the commonest forms of gambling known in that country. In Asia Minor, knuckle-bones of sheep, which are often weighted with lead, are used in the same manner, and in Damascus and the cities in connection with marbles. Marbles themselves, in the varieties known to commerce, are next exhibited.

CASE III.
BOWLING, BILLIARDS, CURLING, AND SHUFFLE BOARD.

The objects used to illustrate the games of Bowling, Billiards, and Shuffle Board were made for this exhibit by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company of Chicago, by whom they are displayed, and comprise miniature tables for these games of remarkable accuracy and beauty of finish. On the north side of the case may be seen the implements used in the game of Croquet as it is played at the present day. The first games of Croquet manufactured in the United States were made from an English sample in 1863. The Chicago Curling Club here displays a collection of representative objects, including three sets of Curling stones and the medals and trophies belonging to the club and its members.

CASE IV.
MERRELLS, FOX AND GEESE, CHESS, AND DRAUGHTS.

An attempt has been made to bring together as large a number as possible of the simple board games like Merrells and Fox and Geese, with the hope that they would throw light upon that much discussed question, the origin of the game of Chess. The Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Siamese, Malayan and Samoan forms of several such games are exhibited. It is curious to note that the peculiar board used in the Japanese Fox and Geese game, called _Juroku Musashi_, or “Sixteen Soldiers,” is the same as one from Peru for a similar game. The inference is that they are both of Spanish introduction, which seems to be confirmed by the statement that the Japanese game was first known in that country in the sixteenth century. Merrells is displayed in a board made in the Damascus house in the Plaisance, where the Syrians call it _Edris_, and in a diagram obtained from Chinese laborers from Canton, who call it _Sám k’í_, or the “Three Game,” as well as by European boards.

A Japanese board for that famous game which the Japanese call _Go_ and the Chinese _Wei k’i_, or the “Game of Surrounding,” follows. This is the game which is often erroneously referred to as chess, in China. The Japanese name of this board, _Go-ban_, has furnished the name which we have applied to the simple game of “Go Bang,” which we also got from Japan.

A board and men for a highly developed game, somewhat like draughts, played by the Zuñi Indians of New Mexico, furnishes a striking object for speculation and research. The board is a square divided into 144 small equal squares, each of which is crossed by two intersecting diagonal lines. The moves are made one square at a time along those diagonal lines, the pieces being placed at the angles of the squares. Two or four persons play. They each start with six men, and their object is to get their men across to the other side and occupy their opponent’s places, capturing as many of his pieces as possible by the way. A piece is taken by getting it between two others, as in the modern Egyptian game of _Seega_, and the first piece thus taken may be replaced by an extra piece belonging to the player who makes the capture, which may move on the straight as well as the diagonal lines and is called the “Priest of the Bow.” This game, which was arranged and is exhibited by Mr. Frank Hamilton Cushing, is called _A-wi-thlák-na-kwe_, which he translates as “Stone warriors.” Mr. Edward Falkener, in his work entitled “Games Ancient and Oriental,” which he lent for exhibition here, has published a restoration of the ancient Egyptian game of Senat from fragments of Egyptian boards which have come down from 1600 B. C. The game as thus restored is in some respects similar to the Zuñi game, the men being taken as in _Seega_ by getting them between two others. The Zuñi game, however, may be regarded as in advance of any other board game, even of our own civilization, until we come to the true game of Chess. Chess stands alone among games. We do not find the links that connect it with lower forms of board games, and the Indian game from which our own is derived almost without change is the source from which the many variants of the Chess game doubtless originated. Several of these offspring of the Indian Chess are shown in the north side of this case, including the chess games of Burma, Siam, the Malay Peninsula, China, and Japan. A Moorish board is exhibited with them, and European chessmen and boards follow. A finely carved ivory chess set represents the pieces that are made for export by the Chinese at Canton. Draughts, which in the opinion of Mr. Edward B. Tylor may be regarded as a modern and simplified form of Chess, now follow, and here are shown two sets of interesting German draughtsmen of the eighteenth century.

CASE V.
AMERICAN BOARD GAMES, GAMES OF LOTS, LOTTO, CHINESE LOTTERIES.

The games played on boards, like Merrells and Draughts, manufactured by Messrs. McLaughlin Brothers and E. J. Horsman of New York, and the Milton Bradley Company of Springfield, Mass., are found in this case. Many of them appear to have been suggested by the Oriental games such as are shown in the preceding collection.

These are followed by games of Lots, a class of games extremely common among the North American Indians. The Haida and other tribes of the northwest coast play with sticks which are painted and carved. According to Dr. Franz Boas the sticks are thrown down violently upon a hard piece of skin, and the object of the game is to pick out the unmarked sticks, which alone count. The designs on the sticks are of the greatest interest, and a set of plaster casts of a very finely carved set in the United States National Museum at Washington, which are displayed through the courtesy of Professor Otis T. Mason, exhibit these peculiarities. The wooden discs from Puget Sound are concealed beneath a mat, and the players endeavor to select a particular disc. Guessing games of various kinds were very general among our Indians. The two bones, one wrapped with thread, which were used by the Alaska Indians in such a game, are exhibited with similar bones from the Utes. They were held in the hands, the player guessing which contained the marked one. The balls of buffalo hair with which the Omahas play a similar game are also displayed, with the moccasins in which the object was sometimes concealed. These games were played with the accompaniment of songs. Miss Alice C. Fletcher exhibits the music of two of these gambling songs used by the Omahas, and in Dr. Washington Matthews’ “Navajo Gambling Songs,” a copy of which may be seen in this case, the songs sung in the game of _Kêsitce_, played with eight moccasins, in one of which a stone is concealed, are recorded. Among the Zuñis and Mokis, cups like dice cups were used to cover the ball. The Moki cups here exhibited have been used in a sacred game and then sacrificed with “plume sticks,” as is shown by the small holes with which they are pierced.

Games can be made to throw much light upon the social and political institutions of many peoples. This fact is rendered conspicuous in the implements for the Chinese lotteries which are shown in this series. They comprise the paraphernalia of the _Pák-kòp-piu_ or “Game of the White Pigeon Ticket,” the _Tsz’ fá_, or “Character Flowering,” and the _Wei Sing_ or “Game of Guessing Surnames.” In the first, the tickets are imprinted with the first eighty characters of the _Tsin tsz’ man_, or Thousand Character Classic, one of the elementary text-books of Chinese children. In the second, the writer of the lottery assists his patrons in their effort to guess the hidden character, by an original ode, in which it must be in some way referred to.

The third is the game of guessing the name of the successful candidate at the Governmental Literary Examinations. Upon them all the peculiar literary traditions of the Chinese people have left their imprint.

CASE VI.
KNUCKLE-BONES AND DICE, DOMINOES, EVOLUTION OF PLAYING CARDS, CHINESE
PLAYING CARDS, PARCHESI, PATOLI, AND KAB.

No method of appealing to chance is more common than that of tossing some object in the air and deciding the result by its fall. A coin is often used at the present day, and many natural and artificial objects have found currency for this purpose. Nuts, cowrie shells, and the knuckle-bones of animals have been used from the earliest times, and the last, the knuckle-bones, have become the parent of many of our modern games. The American Indians across the entire continent played a game with marked plum-stones and other objects which had many points of resemblance with games played by other people with dotted cubical dice. The specimens of such games here exhibited comprise the game played with marked bone discs in a wooden bowl by the Penobscot Indians of Oldtown, Me., contributed by Chief Joseph Nicolar; a set of marked plum-stones and the basket and tallies used by the Sioux, and a similar set of marked bone and wooden pieces, with the basket, from the Arapahoes. Among the Pueblo Indians of the southwestern United States blocks of wood are used in the same manner as dice, and among the Arabs of northern Africa numerical values are attributed to the throws made with four and six similar pieces of reed. In India, cowries are used. Sortilege is also practised with the implements that are used in games. In China, the cleft root stock of the bamboo is commonly employed in fortune-telling, and the blocks, which form part of the accessories of nearly all Chinese temples, may be seen upon the altar of the Chinese God of War, commonly appealed to by Chinese gamblers, erected in this Section. Knuckle-bones or astragali present a most interesting subject for investigation. From a prehistoric knuckle-bone of terra-cotta from Cuzco, Peru (No. 340), in the collection of Señor Montes in this building it appears that they were used by the ancient Peruvians. The Peruvian Indians at the present day use four knuckle-bones as dice in a game. It is known in Kechua as _tava_, a word meaning four, which should not in the opinion of Señor Montes be confounded with the Spanish word for knuckle-bone, _taba_, from which he does not think it was derived.

Knuckle-bones were used in games in old Egypt, as was shown by the ivory specimens found with other gaming implements in the tomb of Queen Hatasu, B. C. 1600, and are constantly referred to by the Greek and Latin authors. Numerical values were attributed to each of the four throws, which among the Romans were designated as _Supinum_, _Pronum_, _Planum_, and _Tortuosum_, and estimated as three, five, one, and six. Among the Arabs, and at the present day throughout western Asia, the four sides receive the names of ranks of human society; thus among the Persians, according to Dr. Hyde, they are called _Duzd_, “thief,” _Dibban_, “peasant,” _Vezir_, and _Shah_, and so with the Turks, Syrians, Armenians, and other peoples. A pair of natural bones from the right and left leg of the sheep are commonly used, which among the Syrians of Damascus are designated respectively as _yisr_ and _yemene_, “left and right.” The transition from these _kabat_, as the Arabs call them, from _kab_ meaning “ankle” or “ankle-bone,” to the cubical dotted dice was an easy one. The same numerical values and social designations were attributed to four sides of the cubical dice, as are given to the knuckle-bones, and it is curious to note that the significant throws with cubical dice in China are those that bear the numbers assigned to the astragali throws. The modern East Indian dice which are exhibited will be seen from the arrangement of the “threes” to be made in pairs, like the natural astragali, and the pair receives in India the name of _kabatain_, the dual of _kab_, the name which is also applied to the pair of astragali. The Syrian dice used in _Towla_, or backgammon, are marked in the same way, as well as the Japanese dice used in the similar game of _Sugoroku_ or “double sixes.” A pair of ancient Roman dice which I purchased in Florence show that the Romans practised the same arrangement, and are especially significant. The invention of the cubical dotted die must have occurred at a comparatively early time. The oldest die of which I have any knowledge is displayed in this collection, a large pottery die from the Greek colony of Naucratis, Egypt, belonging, according to the discoverer, Mr. Flinders Petrie, to 600 B. C. The dice found in Babylonia and Egypt appear to have been associated with foreign influences.

Dice were carried over from India to China, where we find the next stage in their development. Here the twenty-one possible throws with two dice are each given a name, and in the case of the double sixes, double aces, double fours, and three and ace, these names are those of the triune powers of Heaven, Earth, and Man, and the Harmony that unites them. This change in nomenclature, in which the social terms of Shah, Vizier, etc., were replaced with cosmical ones, is characteristic of the way in which China adapts and absorbs foreign ideas. A game with two dice remains the principal dice game in China at the present day. In it the twenty-one possible throws are divided into two series, one consisting of the throws 6/6, 1/1, 4/4, 3/1, 5/5, 3/3, 2/2, 5/6, 4/6, 1/6, 1/5, called _man_, “civil,” and the other, 5/4, 6/3, 5/3, 6/2, 4/3, 5/2, 4/2, 3/2, 1/4, and 1/2, designated as _mò_, or “military.” In the twelfth century, according to Chinese records, dotted tablets, _i. e._, dominoes, were invented. Chinese dominoes consist of 21 pieces representing the 21 throws with two dice of which the 11 pieces of the _man_ series are usually duplicated to form a complete set, which numbers 32 dominoes. In southern China, long wooden dominoes are employed. When paper was used instead of wood we have the playing card.

The subject of Chinese playing cards has been illustrated in an admirable and exhaustive manner by W. H. Wilkinson, Esq., H. B. M. Consul at Swatow, who has lent for exhibition a series of Chinese cards, dice, and dominoes collected at no less than fourteen different cities in China, from Peking on the north, and Tai yuan, down along the coast at Nanking, Shanghai, Ningpo, Wenchow, Fuchow, Swatow, Canton, to Hongkong. Cards are also shown from various places along the Yellow River, from Chung King eastward to Nanking. The cards in this collection are arranged according to the symbols or marks distinguishing them, which Mr. Wilkinson divides into four classes, according as they are derived:

1. From the sapek or cash, and its multiples.

2. Through dominoes from dice.

3. From the Chinese Chess game.

4. From other sources.

A very complete account may be expected from Mr. Wilkinson, who has displayed here what is doubtless the most perfect collection of Chinese cards ever exhibited. The miscellaneous cards in this collection are drawn from western China and bear some resemblance, according to Mr. Wilkinson, to the “Proverbs” and “Happy Families” of Europe and America. They include the cards based on a writing lesson, cards based on numbers, and cards based on a lucky formula.

Returning to the subject of dice, the special implements used in dice divination in India are shown, as well as illustrations of the methods employed in telling fortunes with dominoes in China and Korea; these forming part of the material used in the investigation of the origin of dominoes. Japanese and Siamese dice are also exhibited with the East Indian and Chinese specimens, as well as dice made in various parts of Europe, comprising a pair of iron dice purchased at Perugia, which, although presumably modern, have the dots arranged with the 6–5, 4–2, and 3–1 opposite, like those of old Etruria, instead of the sums of the spots on opposite sides being equal to seven, as is otherwise general. With the dice are the spinning dice of various countries, including the East Indian _Chukree_, the Chinese _Ch’e me_, and the corresponding dice of Japan and Siam. A variety of dominoes are also displayed, including those of Korea, which are identical with those of China, and the Siamese dominoes, which were also borrowed from the latter country.

The pair of knuckle-bones appear to be the parent of many of that large class of games which Mr. Tylor describes as the “backgammon group.” With reference to dice-backgammon the evidence in this particular is very direct, but the similar games played with cowries and wooden blocks, for which even a greater antiquity may be claimed, there is a likelihood of independent origin. Several games of the latter class from India, North America, and Egypt, types of which have been referred to by Mr. Tylor, are exhibited in this collection. The first, _Pachisi_, is the most popular game in India. It is played around a board, usually made of cloth, in the form of a cross, according to the throws with cowries. Six or seven shells are ordinarily used, and count according as the apertures fall. When long dice of ivory are employed, the game is called _Chausar_. This game was introduced from India into the United States, where it was first published in 1860 under the name of Parchesi, and has become very popular. Mr. Cushing has set up beside the _Pachisi_ a Zuñi game, which the Zuñis call _Ta sho lí wé_, or “wooden cane cards,” and which has many points of resemblance to the East Indian game. The moves are made according to the throws with wooden blocks three inches in length, painted red and black upon their two faces, around a circle of forty stones which is broken at the top and bottom, and the right and left, by four openings called the “Doorways of the four directions.” This game embodies many of the mythical conceptions of the Zuñis. It is played by two or four players, who use colored splints to mark their course around the circle. These splints, which are placed at starting in the doorway to which they correspond, have the following symbolism: At the top, Yellow, North, The Wind, Winter. At the left, Blue, West, Water, Spring. At the bottom, Red, South, Fire, Summer. At the right, White, East, Seed or Earth, Autumn. The colors of the two wooden blocks symbolize the two conditions of man: Red, Light or Wakefulness; Black, Darkness or Sleep. The throws with the blocks, which are tossed, ends down, upon a disc of sandstone placed in the middle of the circle, are as follows: 3 red count 10; 3 black count 5; 2 red and 1 black count 3; 1 red and 2 black count 1.

A count of three red gives another throw. When four play, the North and West move around from right to left, and the South and East from left to right. When a player’s move ends at a division of the circle occupied by his adversaries’ piece, he takes it up and sends it back to the beginning. It is customary to make the circuit of the stones either four or six times, beans or corn of the seven varieties being used as counters. This game forms one of the seven sacred games of the Zuñis, and its antetype, _Sho lí we_, or “Cane Cards,” is one of the four games that are sacrifices to the God of War and Fate. The sacred form of the game is called _Tein thla nah na tá sho lí we_, or literally, “Of all the regions wood cane cards, and the blocks which are thrown in it bear complicated marks, consisting of bands of color on one side.” In the sacred game, the players are chosen with great care with reference to their totem, and the region to which it belongs. A much more complete account of this game may be expected from Mr. Cushing himself, from the ample material which he has placed at my disposal. Side by side with _Ta sho lí we_ is the corresponding game as played by the Apache and Navajos, which has been set up by Antonio Apache. It lacks the color symbolism, but the principle is identical. The Navajos call it _Set tilth_, which Captain John G. Bourke, U. S. A., tells me should be transliterated _Tze-chis_, or _Zse tilth_, and means literally, “stonestick.” The circle of stones, he says, is called _Tze nasti_, “Stone circle.”

Lieut. H. L. Scott, U. S. A., has contributed the implements for a similar game of the Kiowas, which is known as the “Awl Game.” It is called by the Kiowas _Zohn ahl_, that is, _Zohn_, “creek,” and _ahl_, “wood.” A detailed account of it will appear elsewhere, furnished to the writer by Lieutenant Scott, who states that the Comanches have a similar game which they play with eight ahl sticks, which are two feet or more long.

These games are all similar to the Mexican Patoli, as described by the early Spanish chroniclers. A picture of the latter game from an early Hispano-American manuscript, reproduced from the original in Florence by its discoverer, Mrs. Zelia Nuttall, is exhibited in this connection. The method of play among the Aztecs is here shown, and it is curious to note that they used a diagram or board in the form of a cross, like that of the East Indian Pachisi. In the Malayan archipelago, a stone is placed in the centre upon which dice are thrown in games, as among the North American Indians. Mr. Tylor has set forth the conclusions which may be drawn from these resemblances, but the matter is still open for discussion. Another game remains to be noticed, played with wooden blocks as dice: the Arab game of _Tab_, in which men are moved on a board according to the throws of four slips of palm. These slips, about eight inches in length, are left with one face of the natural color, and the other showing the whiter interior of the palm, these sides being called black and white respectively. The throws count as follows: 4 black, 6; 4 white, 4; 3 white, 3; 2 white, 2; 1 white, 1.

The implements displayed for this game were made in the Cairo street. No more curious ethnographical parallels are presented in the Exposition than that of the Arabs in the Plaisance, and the Navajos beside the South Lagoon, both playing these curiously similar games.

CASE VII.
BACKGAMMON, SUGOROKU, AND THE GAME OF GOOSE, EAST INDIAN, JAPANESE, AND
SIAMESE CARDS.

According to Mr. Tylor, dice-backgammon makes its appearance plainly in classic history. The game of twelve lines (_duodecim scripta_) was played throughout the Roman Empire and passed on, with little change, through mediæval Europe, carrying its name of tabulæ, tables; its modern representatives being French Tric trac, English Backgammon, etc. Among the ancient Greeks _Kubeia_, or “dice playing,” is shown by various classical passages to be of the nature of backgammon. The pearl-inlaid backgammon board here shown is from Damascus, where the game is known as _Towla_, “tables.” A Siamese board exhibited by the government of Siam, with other games, through its royal commissioner Phra Surya, has departed little from the ancient type. Backgammon is known in China as _Sheung Luk_, “double sixes,” and in Japan by the corresponding name of _Sugoroku_. The popular games, both in China and Japan, however, are not played with men upon a set board, but resemble the games with many stations, which are common in Europe and America.

The most notable of the Chinese games of this class is the one which is called _Shing kun to_, or “The Tables of the Promotion of Officials,” a game which has been known to scholars, through Dr. Hyde’s account, as “The Game of the Promotion of Mandarins.” It is played by two or more persons upon a large paper diagram, upon which are printed the titles of the different officials and dignitaries of the Chinese government. The moves are made according to the throws with four cubical dice, and the players, whose positions upon the diagram are indicated by notched or colored splints, are advanced or set back, according to their throws. The paper chart here exhibited was purchased in a Chinese shop in New York city. It was printed in Canton, and bears an impression about twenty-three inches square. This is divided into sixty-three compartments, exclusive of the central one and the place for entering at the lower right-hand corner. The latter contains the names of thirteen different starting-points, from _yan shang_, or “Honorary Licentiate,” down to _t’ung shang_, or “student,” between which are included the positions of _t’ín man shang_, “astrologer,” and _í shang_, “physician.” These are entered at the commencement of the game by the throws of “three, four, five, six,” three “fours,” three “sixes,” three “fives,” three “threes,” three “twos,” and three “ones;” and then in the same manner double “fours,” and so on down to double “ones.”

The sixty-three compartments, representing as many classes of officials or degrees of rank, comprise three hundred and ninety-seven separate titles, of which the highest, and the highest goal of the game, is that of man _fá tín tái hok sz’_, or “Grand Secretary.” This, however, under favorable conditions, can only be reached by a player who starts from a favorable point, advancement in the game being regulated by rules similar to those which actually regulate promotion under government. Thus, a player whose fortune it is to enter as physician or astrologer can only obtain promotion in the line of his service, and must be content with a minor goal, as he is ineligible to the high civil office of “Grand Secretary.”

The dice are thrown into a bowl placed in the centre of the sheet, the players throwing in turn, and each continuing to throw until he makes a cast of doublets or higher. It is noticeable that “fours,” as in Dr. Hyde’s account, constitute the highest throw. A pair of “fours,” according to the rules, is to be reckoned as _tak_, “virtue,” and leads to a higher place than those of the other numbers. Sixes are next highest and are to be reckoned as _ts’oi_, “genius;” and in the same manner, in descending degree, “fives” are to be reckoned as _kung_, “skill;” “threes” as _léung_, “forethought;” “twos” as _yau_, “tractability;” and “ones,” _chong_, “stupidity.” The game is much complicated by being played for money or counters, which is necessary under the rules. By this means advancement may be purchased, degradation compounded for, and the winner of a high position rewarded.

The main point of difference between the game as it exists to-day, and as described by Dr. Hyde, is the number of dice employed, six being the number mentioned by him. The enlarged form of the diagram is of minor importance, as he himself says that the names of officials written on the tablet are many or few, according to the pleasure of the players. With the game of _Shing kún_ to may be seen a copy of Dr. Hyde’s treatise, _De Ludis Orientalibis_, containing the reproduction of the chart of the game which he made in London 200 years ago. The names of titles of the Ming dynasty appear upon it, in curious contrast to those of the present Tartar domination. The two hundredth anniversary of the date of the imprimatur of this precious volume occurs on the 20th of September of this very year.

There is a very great variety of games of this character in Japan, new ones being published annually at the season of the New Year. Illustrations of the more formal game played upon a board divided into twelve parts are figured in the Chinese-Japanese cyclopædias. According to the _Kum mō dzu e tai sei_, the twelve compartments, called in Japanese _me_, or “eyes,” symbolize the twelve months, and the black and white stones with which the game is played, day and night.

Italy contributes several forms of the dice game played upon a board having many stations. The oldest specimen in the collection, purchased in Parma, is a manuscript game bearing the title of _Oca Franchese_. Others printed in Florence bear the printed labels of _Giuoco dell’ oca_ and _Giuoco del Barone_, while late examples more fanciful, both in name and design, appear as _Giuoco del Tramway_ and _La Battaglia del 48_. A French game is shown under its proper title as _Jeu de l’oie_, beside which is placed a similar American game published as the “Game of Goose.”

A number of packs of Oriental cards other than Chinese are contained in this case, among which are included several packs of East Indian Hindu cards which they call _Gungeefa_. They are all circular, varying in diameter in the different sets from 1⅝ to 3⅛ inches. One pack from Lucknow comprises eight suits, each composed of twelve cards, ten of which are “numerals,” from one to ten. The two remaining cards are designated respectively as _Badsha_ and _Sawar_. No satisfactory explanation has yet been afforded as to their origin.

The Japanese call the cards which are now current in Japan by the name of _Karuta_, a word evidently derived from the Portuguese _carta_. Those commonly used by gamblers, a pack of which is exhibited by Mrs. J. K. Van Rensellaer, are called _Hana Karuta_, or “Flower cards,” and comprise forty-eight pieces, a number, it will be observed, identical with that of the present Spanish pack. They bear pictures, chiefly flowers, emblematic of the twelve months, four cards being placed under each. Their names are as follows: _Matsu_, “pine;” _Sakusa_, “cherries;” _Momidzi_, “maple;” _Butan_, “wild rose;” _Hagi_, Lespedeza; _Kiku_, “golden-colored daisy;” _Kiri_, Paulonia; _Fudzi_, Wisteria; _Soba_, “tiger lily;” _Ume_, “plum-tree;” _Yama_, “mountain;” and _Ame_, “rain.”

The _Iroha_, or Proverb cards, also consist of ninety-six cards, half of which bear a picture and one of the forty-seven characters of the _Iroha_, or Japanese syllabary. Each of the other cards is inscribed with a proverb, the first word of which is written with one of the characters. There are several methods of play, the commonest being that of laying out all the picture cards face up. One of the older players reads the proverbs in turn, while the others endeavor to select the card from the table bearing the corresponding initial character. The _Uta Karuta_, or “Cards with songs,” contain, according to Mr. Karl Himly, the well-known one hundred songs (_Hiyaku nin issiu_, 1235 A. D.), or the poems of the “Old and New Collection” (_Ho kin schiu_, 905 A. D.). The picture cards have the pictures of the poet or poetess, with the commencement of the poems. The rest is on the corresponding cards. The game is the same as that played with the _Iroha Karuta_.

CASE VIII.
AMERICAN BOARD GAMES PLAYED WITH DICE.

The first of American board games played with dice is said to be the “Mansion of Happiness.” This game is said to have been published in 1852, and copied from an English game. Thirty-three specimens of similar games published in this country are exhibited. They form a small part, however, of the entire number.

CASE IX.
TAROTS, TAROCCHINO, AND MINCHIATE. TYPES OF ITALIAN CARDS. MANUFACTURE
OF PLAYING CARDS.

The question of the origin of playing cards in Europe, whether they were introduced from the East, or an independent invention in France, Italy, or Germany, has been the object of much discussion. It may be regarded as conclusively settled that playing cards were invented in China in the twelfth century, and in view of the remarkable similarities between the card and card games of China and those of Europe which have been brought to light by Mr. Wilkinson, it may be profitable to suspend further consideration of the matter until the results of his studies are made public. Italy appears to be the oldest home of the playing card in Europe, and the earliest Italian packs are said to be those which the Italians call Tarocchi. Several types of these cards are found in Italy. According to Willshire these games are known as the _Tarots_ of Venice or Lombardy, the _Tarocchino_ of Bologna, and the _Minchiate_ of Florence. The first of these, the old Venetian Tarot, he regards as the parent of all. The sequence consists of 78 cards, _i. e._, of 22 emblematic cards of Tarots proper, and 56 numeral cards made up of 16 figures or court cards, and 40 pip cards. The 22 Tarot cards bear emblematic designs which appear to be borrowed from a series of prints which are known to collectors as the _Tarocchi_ of Mantegna or the _Carte di Baldini_. The emblematic cards in the Venetian series usually bear the following inscriptions: 1. La Bagattel. 2. La Papessa. 3. L’Imperatrice. 4. L’Imperatore. 5. Il Papa. 6. Gli Amanti. 7. Il Carro. 8. La Guistizia. 9. L’Eremita. 10. Ruot. della For. 11. La Forza. 12. L’Appeso. 13. . 14. La Temperan. 15. Il Diavolo. 16. La Torre. 17. Le Stelle. 18. La Luna. 19. Il Sole. 20. Il Giudizio. 21. Il Mondo. 22. Il Matto.

No name is placed upon the 13th, which usually bears a skeleton with a scythe, representing “death.”

The second game, the _Tarocchino_ of Bologna, though a direct descendant of the ancient Venetian tarots, is not so old as the third game, or _Minchiate_ of Florence. The chief characteristic of the _Tarocchino_, its name a diminutive of _tarocchi_, is the suppression in it of the 2, 3, 4, and 5 of each numeral suit, thus reducing the numeral cards from 56 to 40. This modification of the tarot game was invented in Bologna, early in the fifteenth century, by Francesco Fibbia, Prince of Pisa, an exile in that city, dying there in 1419.

The third game is the _Minchiate_ of Florence. It is more complicated than the Venetian game, twenty additional cards being added to the emblematic series. A pack of modern Venetian tarot made in Milan, which are remarkable for their beautifully engraved and painted designs, a pack of modern _Tarocchino_ from Bologna, and a pack of seventeenth century _Minchiate_, are displayed in the south side of this case. All of these cards are in current use in different parts of Italy.

The suit marks of Italian cards consist of money, cups, swords, and clubs, called _danari_, _coppe_, _spade_, and _bastoni_. The four court cards of the numeral suits are known respectively as _Re_, King, _Regina_ or _Reina_, Queen, _Cavallo_, Knight, and _Fante_, Knave. The regular cards, as opposed to those which include the emblematic series, are distinguished by certain peculiarities in the designs of the court cards in different parts of Italy. The distinctive cards of Florence, Milan, and Naples are exhibited in this case, together with several interesting packs upon which all the designs, except an indication of the value at the top, have given place to texts designed to afford instruction in history, geography, etc. A remarkable pack of this character, exhibited by Dr. G. Brown Goode, of Washington, is in manuscript and is intended to teach geography.

According to Chatto, on the earliest cards he had ever seen the figures had been executed by means of stencils, this being the case both in the cards of 1440 and those known as the Stukely cards. There are exhibited in this case the stencils, brush, and unfinished card sheets from a card maker in Florence, who still practises this ancient method of manufacture. The cards on the south side of this case, which in common with all others not specially mentioned are exhibited by the University of Pennsylvania, represent the cards made at the present day in no less than eighteen Italian cities by some twenty-nine makers. They were collected for the University Museum by Mr. Francis C. Macauley of Florence. The cards of Florence, Bologna, Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Ferrara, Padua, Treviso, Udine, Novara, Turin, Sesia, Bergamo, Brescia, Genoa, Perugia, Naples, and Bari are included in the collection, in which an opportunity is afforded to observe the peculiarities of the cards of the different Italian cities. A distinctive character of the marks of the numeral suits of _spade_ and _bastoni_ is the mode in which they are interlaced or connected together in place of standing separately or apart. It is interesting to note that in the cards made in and for southern Italy this peculiarity does not exist, they being almost identical with the cards made in Spain.