CHINESE GAMES WITH DICE AND DOMINOES. 



537 



i^ t 



ooooooooo 



the diagram (fig. 33)* wbich is given by Legget as the accepted form 

 of the Lolc IShU, or " Lo writing," which is referred to in the Yilc King 

 as one of the sources of in- 

 spiration for its broljen and 

 undivided lines, \ is com- 

 l>osed of light and dark cir- 

 cles similar to the domino 

 dots. A 



1 may suggest, in conclu- ^ 

 sion, that dominoes may ^ 

 have been first used as coun- 

 ters or tallies in a dice game 

 or m- a method of fortune O 



telling with dice. They ex- 

 isted in their present form in O 

 China iu the year 1120 A. D., 

 according to the Chinese rec- O 

 ords, with similar astrological 

 associations as at the pres- 

 ent day. They are clearly 

 descended from dice, and # 

 jtarticularly from that game O 

 with two dice which appears 9 

 to have been introduced into 

 China from western Asia. 



O 

 O 

 O 



O 



Fig. 33. 



o 

 o 

 o 

 o 

 o 

 o 

 o 



I.O WHITING. 



* This diagram coincides -with the most renowned of the arithmetical stjnares 

 whicii are used as charms both by Hindus and Mohaniniedans iu India. It is usually 

 writleu as below, an inversion of the Chinese arrangement. 



This square appears in its numerical form on the Thibetan charts, reproduced by 

 iSchlagintweit. where it is arranged in the Chinese order. 



It is believed iu India, said one of my Mohammedan informants, that to write this 

 charm will biing good look and money by honest meaus. The object for which it is 

 used is always written beneath it. He told me that his grandfather wrote it every 

 day after prayers and would place beneath it the words ri:k, "bread," or chardj, 

 "expenses."' Snch numbered diagrams are cut iu squares, each containing a number. 

 These are made into pills with wheateu bread and thrown into a pond or river to be 

 eaten by fish. 



Auother Indian, a Hindu, says that this magic square is called in Hindustani 

 Fiiiidra vo yiiiitra, or the"' l.") yuntra."' 



It is written both with numerals and with dots. In the latter case the set of dots 

 from 1 to 9 frequentl}' are made each of a different color and certain names are 

 given to them. 



It is not improbable that this diagram was borrowed by the Chinese from India, 

 and that, too, at a much later period than is usually assigned to it by the Chinese. 

 The writer found a cojiy of it — in Arabic numerals, among the written charms iu a 

 soldier's kit captured iu Tt)uquin — in the Municipal Museum of the city of Havre. 



The spots, like those on the dice, are doubtless survivals of a primitive system of 

 notation, like that which existed iu Mexico at the time of the Conquest. 



t Legge, Kev. Dr. .James, The Ve King, Oxford, 18)^2. Introduction, )>. 18. 



ilbicL, Appendix III, !Sec. l, par. To. 



