Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalofstra15161885roya).pdf/269

 A DESCRIPTION OF THE CHINESE LOTTERY KNOWN AS HUA-HOEY.

UA-HOEY or the thirty-six Animals Lottery is so extensively played in the Straits Settlements, Burma, Siam and wherever the Chinese settle, that some description of its origin and of the way in which it is carried on here may prove not altogether uninteresting.

From a small book "On the Interpretation of Dreams with Illustrations of Hua Hoey" we learn that the game was invented in the time of the second Han dynasty. In this book there is a short sketch of the lives of the thirty-six mythical personages (who had previously existed as animals) and directions are given as to staking. The order in which the characters are described is different from that employed in the staking papers of which a specimen is given below.

King Thai Peng, being the most celebrated character, is placed first instead of being No. 26.