LITMIR.BIZ

      Plate II.

      "Plate I represents the [honours of the] four superior suits, called Beshbur; and Plate II, the inferior, Kumbur. The kings are easily distinguished, and are here numbered from 1 to 8.

      "In the superior suits, the ten follows next in value to the king and wuzeer; and the ace is the lowest card. In the inferior suits, the ace has precedence immediately after the wuzeer, then the deuce, and others in succession, the ten being of least value.

"The game is played by three or six persons: when six play, three take the superior, and three the inferior suits. The pack being divided into parcels after the cards are well mixed, the players cut for the deal; and he who cuts the highest card deals. [55] When three play, the cards are dealt by fours. In the first and last round the cards are exposed, and thus eight cards of each person's hand are known to the adversaries. The cards are dealt from right to left, the reverse of the European mode.

      "The Lead. When the game is played by day, he who holds the red king, (Soorkh, the sun,) must lead that and any small card. Should he play the king alone, it is seized by the next player. The adversaries throw down each two common cards, and the trick is taken up. When the game is played by night, the white king, (Soofed, the moon,) is led in like manner. The cards are then played out at the option of him who leads, the adversaries throwing away their small cards, and no attention is paid to the following suit, unless when one of the adversaries, having a superior card of the suit led, chooses to play it to gain the trick.

      "In order to guard a second-rate card which may enable you hereafter to recover the lead, it is customary to throw down a small one of that suit, and call the card you are desirous to have played. With this call the adversaries must comply. As in Whist, when the person who has the lead holds none but winning cards, they are thrown down. After the cards have been all played, the parties shuffle their tricks, and the last winner, drawing a card, challenges one of his adversaries to draw out any card from the heap before him, naming it the fourth or fifth, &c. from the top or bottom. The winner of this trick in like manner challenges his right-hand adversary. The number of cards in the possession of each party is then counted, and those who have fewest are obliged to purchase from an adversary to make up their deficiency of complement. The greatest winner at the end of four rounds has the game.

      "The following terms used in the game may be acceptable to those who desire to understand it when played by natives: I think they unequivocally prove that Gunjeefu is of Persian or Arabian origin.

"From my observation of the game when played, I do not think it sufficiently interesting to cause its being preferred by Europeans to the cards in vogue in Europe. The number of the suits are too great, and the inconvenient form of the cards (the size and shape of which are represented by the plates [56]) are great objections. The Hindoostanee cards are made of paper, well varnished; the figures appropriately painted, and the ground and backs of every suit of one colour. The Slave standing before the King in No. 3, is the figure used as the spot or crest on all the common cards of that suit. … The tradition regarding the origin of the Hindoostanee cards is, that they were invented by a favorite sultana, or queen, to wean her husband from a bad habit he had acquired of pulling or eradicating his beard."

With respect to the word Gunjeefu, which, according to the preceding account, appears to be a general name for cards, I am informed that it is of Persian origin, and that it signifies both a pack of cards and the game. In Bengal, cards are more generally known by the name of Tas, which is a Hindoo word, than that by Gunjeefu, or Gangēefah, as it is otherwise written. From the reference, in the preceding account, to the 'Dictionary, Hindoostanee and English,' edited by the late Dr. Hunter, [57] I am inclined to think that Taj and Tas have the same signification, with reference to cards; and that the only difference between them consists in the pronunciation and mode of spelling. Now, the word Taj is said to signify a crown; but if it be also used figuratively for a king, the wearer of a crown—just as "crown" is figuratively used to signify empire or regal power—the Hindoo name for cards would be synonymous with "Kings." That cards were known in England by the name of the "Four Kings" has been already shown; and if my speculations on the terms Chartæ

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