536 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



Where and for what i)nrpose were the dice-throws united in the 

 domino form, and why was the number of the doraino pieces increased 

 from 21 to 32 ? Dominoes are unknown in India as a native game, but 

 as it seemed possible that they might have had their origin there for 

 use in fortune telling, the writer made a carefnl exam iinition of the prin- 

 cipal East Indian systems of fortune telling with dice, bntthe resnlts 



clid not throw any light u])on the origin of 

 dominoes. * The Thibetan astrologers, ac- 

 cording to Schlagintweit, t use dice which 

 are either cubes like European ones, or 

 rectangular parallelopipedons, sometimes 

 comparatively very long; the latter, in con- 

 sequence of their form, having two sides 

 bla,iik. This description agrees witli the 

 iennsyiv..,„H. J ]>receding Indian dice used in fortune tell- 



ing, which I regard as derived from the game Avith staves, but the 

 faces of a die (tig. 32), which Schlagintweit figures as used by the 

 Thibetans for astrological i)urposes, suggests a domino in the duplica- 

 tion of its si)ots.t 



The astrological associations of the domino game have not thrown 



Fig. :il. 



ANCIENT GLASS ASTRAGALI : SYRIA. 

 From specimens m Museum of I'niversity of 



Fig. r!2. 



FACES OF IIBETAN DIE USED FOR ASTROLO(iIC-AI, PURI'OSES 

 From Schlagintweit. 



light as yet ui)on the question of its origin. They have been referred 

 to in connection with the method of telling fortunes, and it has been 

 observed that the disks accoini>anying the bamboo dominoes from 

 Fuhchau bear the names of the cyclical animals. It will also be 

 noticed that the terms iia and in/dug, "weak" and "strong,'' apphed to 

 the ])airs in the game of ¥<(}) Pdi shap^ p. 513, are the same as those used 

 to designate the broken and undivided lines in the TiA- King^ and that 



* Report of the Proceedings of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Phila- 

 delphia, 1890-91, p. 65. 



+ Buddhism in Thibet, Loudon, 18(33, p. 315. 



tCol. ^V. W. Rockhill informs me that he never saw dice used in Thibet except for 

 fortune tellin<f. According to Col. Rockhill, the Thibetan name for dice is sho, and. 

 a person who throws dice, mojyah ken. He tells me that he always saw four dice 

 used in Thibet and North China. These dice have no " six." There is a picture of 

 the god Pal-dan-hlanio holding a V)ag of dominoes or dice in the superb Thibetan col- 

 lection deposited by him in the U. 8. National Museum. 



