Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/384

292 The Praya Granda is the esplanade facing the sea, and here is the Government House, a pale blue house with white pillars, the Consulates, and some handsome private houses, some of which are painted in pale pink, blue, and green. It is certainly a pretty place, but seemed asleep.

After dinner that evening I did what is the usual thing, and went to the Chinese fantan or gambling-house. I walked down alone through a street crowded with Chinese, lined with Chinese shops, open to the street. Seeing some little bits of porcelain I liked, I went in and bought them, but in pretending to give me back my change the Chinaman in the shop kept back most of it. On my naturally objecting, he became most insolent and called out things in Chinese to the others, and instantly the shop filled and they began to hustle me. I only realised then that I had done a silly thing coming out at night alone into this Chinese part. An old Chinaman, however, rushed in, harangued the others, pulled me out, and simply bundled me into the gambling-house, which was opposite, warning me to be careful what I did, and not to come out alone like that at night.

The fantan house was a dirty place, open in the roof to a room above, a rail running round this opening, and there above were the naval officers and the ladies letting down their money in a basket. I sat at the table amidst a mob of Chinese, with other excited half-naked Chinese sprawling over my back. The game was simple enough. I loathe gambling, do not like winning money (strange as it may seem!), and it does not amuse me in the least. I was doing it this night merely to see what the place was like and study the gambling Chinese. Yet, strange to say, whenever I put my money down I won, and so I scraped in quite a pile of dollars—I found after-