CHESS AND PLAYING-CARDS. 



851 



described "by Dr. Hyde under the name of Coan ki {Tsun k'i), or tlie 

 "Bottle Game."' 



37. Kawade Kelia. Cowrie game. Ceylon. Board and cowries.^ 

 The board, 12 by 24:^ inches, is marked with a design cut in the wood 



(fig. 157). It is elevated by two strips of wood nailed transversely across 

 the bottom, and bears a nearly obliterated diagram for the same game 

 in blue paint. From the exhibit of the Government of Ceylon at the 

 Columbian Exposition, Chicago. Two or four persons play. In the 

 latter case, two play as partners. Cowries of different kinds are used 

 as men, each player having three. These are called bala, " dogs " (singu- 

 lar, balo). The moves are made, 

 according to the throws, with six 

 cowrie shells. The counts are as 

 follows : 



6 mouths up = 6 



5 mouths up = 5 



4 mouths up = 4 



3 mouths up = 3 



2 mouths up = 2 



1 mouth up = 1 



The players stand at opposite sides 

 of the bottom of the board and finish 

 at the end of the interior diagram, 

 making the circuit in opposite direc- 

 tions. A player may take and set 

 back an opponent's piece, unless it be upon one of the squares crossed 

 by diagonals, called cattya. A similar game is played in southern India 

 under the name of GavaJata, or "cowrie play," upon a square checkered 

 board having an odd number of squares upon a side (fig. 158). Two or 

 four persons play, each using one or two cowries as men, which they 

 move according to the throws with four or five cowries.^ 



When two play, one starts at A and the other at B, moving in the direc- 

 tion of the arrows. The object is to traverse all the squares to the center. 

 A player kills and sends back an opponent's piece when his own falls 

 upon the same square, unless it rests in a protected square or "castle."* 



These games are clearly related to the following game, Pachisi. The 

 cowries used in it, as in Pachisi, may be regarded as a convenient sub- 

 stitute for staves. 



38. Pachisi. The Game of "Twenty-five." India. Cloth, cowries, 



and men.^ 

 "The implements for the game of Pachisi, a most popular game in 





BOARD FOR 



Fi-. 138. 



'COWRIE play" 

 Southern iDdia. 



(Qavalata). 



' De Ludis Orientalibus, Oxford, 1694, p. 65. 



2 Cat. No. 16471, Mus. Arch., Univ. Penn. 



•' A simihir Hiudu game is figured and described by Mr. Edward Falkener (Games, 

 Ancient and Oriental, p. 265) under the name of Ashta-kashie. 



^ Chihlren and others who can not aflord cowries pLiy with tamarind seeds rubbed 

 smooth on one side. 



6 Cat. No. 153344, U.S.N.M. 



