Page:The costume of China, illustrated in forty-eight coloured engravings.pdf/125

 A GROUP OF PEASANTRY, WATERMEN, &c.

playing with Dice.

The Chinese are so much addicted to gaming, that they are seldom without a pack of cards, or a set of dice. Cock-fighting is in practice among them; and quails are also bred for the same purpose. They have likewise a large species of grasshopper (or grillae) common in China; a couple of these are put into a bason to fight, while the bystanders bet sums of money on the issue of the conflict: these insects assail each other with great animosity, frequently tearing off a limb by the violence of their attacks. The Chinese dice are marked exactly similar to those of Europe; in playing they never use a box, but cast them out of the hand. The laws of the empire allowing them full power to dispose of their wives and children, instances have happened when these have been put to the hazard of a throw; and it should be mentioned, that in all their games, whether for amusement or avarice, the Chinese are very noisy and quarrelsome. The figure standing with an instrument of agriculture in his hand, is an husbandman; another sitting figure, with a small black cap, is a waterman, having by him a gong, which is an instrument of semi-metal resembling a pot-lid; this being struck with the stick lying near it, produces a harsh jarring sound, which is heard at a considerable distance: one of these is always suspended at the head of every vessel when tracked along the canals, and struck as occasion requires, by the people on board, to inform the trackers when to desist hauling, and when to resume their labour. By this method much confusion is prevented, where the great concourse of vessels would be continually running foul of each other, if not warned by this contrivance.

These gongs have so many various notes, that the trackers know perfectly when the signal is made from the vessel they are hauling.