CHESS AND PLAYING-CARDS. 929 



enteenth century we know that a set of ganjifeh consisted of ninety or ninety-six 

 canls in eight suits or colors. At present a set consists of twenty cards in tive 

 colors or values. These values are : 



1. Shir ra Khurshid or <i.i : Lion and Sun, or Ace. 



2. Shdh or Pddishd : King. 



3. Jiibi: Lady (or Queen). 



4. Sarhdz : Soldier (or Knave). 



5. £«/.■«< (meaning something of little value) : generally a flancing-girl. 

 The backs of the cards are always black or of a dark color, but their faces have 



grounds of difterent colors, viz : The Lion and Sun, a black ground ; the King, a white 

 ground; the Lady, red; the soldier, gold; the Lakai, green. The pictures on the 

 cards show much variety and are often obscene, particularly those on the card of 

 the lowest value. The ordinary types as now made are : Ace, a Lion and Sun, as in 

 the Persian arms; a King sitting on a throne; a European lady in a quaint costume; 

 a Persian soldier shouldering his ritle; a I'ersian dancing-girl. The word ganjifeh I 

 have exjilained. As is no doubt our word ''ace, ' probably introduced into India 

 through the Portuguese Neither of the words is found in Persian dictionaries. 

 The game of Js is exactly like Poker, but without any flushes or sequences. There 

 are four players, and each player gets five cards, dealt to the right. The dealer puts 

 down a stake. The first player then looks at his cards. If he ''goes," he says 

 didam (I have seen), and covers the stake or raises it. If he does not wish to play, 

 he says nadidam (I have not seen) and throws his cards. He may also "go" without 

 looking at his cards — that is, in poker parlance, "straddle" — and he says nadid 

 didam (not seeing, I have seen). The second player, if he wishes to play, must cover 

 the stakes, and can also raise. Tlie third player and the dealer then act in the same 

 way just as in poker, and when the stakes of all players arc equal and no one raises 

 any more the cards are turned up and the player holding the best hand wins the 

 stakes. 

 The hands in the order of their value are as follows : 



Seh vajust, i e., three and a pair; a "full." . 



Sehta, i. e., threes, aces, kings, etc. 



Do just, i. e., two pairs; aces highest. 



Just, i. e., one pair; aces highest. 

 \^Tien two players have the same pair or pairs, the other cards decide ; for instance, 

 a pair of kings, ace, soldier, and lalat. 



"Bluffing" is a feature of the game and is called tuj) zadan ; literally, "fire off a 

 gun." A bluft' is tup. 



84. Playing-cards.^ Siam. Nineteenth century. 



Pack of eighty cards, painted in colors on bhick cardboard, 1^ by 

 2 J inches. One suit of ten cards eight times repeated, comprising 

 numeral-cards with conventional flowers as suit-marks; from two to 

 eight cards with pictures of fish; eight cards with picture of man in 

 native dress, and eight with grotesque picture of man with sword. 



85. Tarocchi, Playing-Oards^ (Venetian Tarots). Milan, Italy. Nine- 

 teenth century. 



Seventy-eight cards, comprising twenty-two attuti and fifty-six nu- 

 merals. The suit- marks of the numeral series are Goppe, Danari, Spade, 

 and Bastoni; "Cups," "Money," "Swords," and "Clubs." The court- 



> Cat. No. 16528, Mus Arch., Univ. Penn. 

 '^Cat. No. 15645, Mus. Arch,, Univ. Peuu. 

 NAT MUS 96 59 



