Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/695

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Pool, a game which, may be played by two or more parsons, consists entirely of winning hazards. Each player subscribes a certain stake to form the pool, and at starting has three chances or lives. He is then provided with a coloured or numbered ball, and the gams commences thus : The white ball is placed on the spot and the red is played at it from the baulk semicircle. If the player pocket the white he receives the price of a life from the owner of the white ; but if he fail, the next player, the yellow, plays on the red; and so on alternately till all have played, or till a ball be pocketed. When a ball is pocketed the striker plays on the ball nearest his own, and goes on playing as long as he can score.

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1em 1em  BILLITON, or, an island of the East Indies, belonging to the Dutch, situated between Sumatra and Borneo, in lat. 3 S. and long. 108 E. It is of a circular form, about 50 miles in length by 45 in breadth ; and has an area, according to Melvill van Carnbee, of 2500 square miles. The weather is subject to rapid changes ; but the usual temperature varies from 80 to 87 Fahr. The nights are very cool. The surface in the north is hilly, -Tadjem, the- highest peak, being 3230 feet in height. The sea-coast is inaccessible and surrounded with rocks, and the best harbour is still that at the chief town of Taudjong Padan. The navigation between the island and Borneo is very dangerous. Horses, buffaloes, cattle, sheep and goats, ducks, geese, fowls, and pigeons are the domestic animals of Billiton ; and among its wild animals are deer, goats, jackals, monkeys, civet-cats, tiger-cats, and porcupines. The seas furnish a superabundance of fish. On the rocks along the coast are found tortoises, trepang, and edible birds -nests, which are articles of export. The forests supply wood of 