88 A NATURALIST IN THE GUIANAS 



points, the latter are losing ones, and they are named 

 respectively suertes and azares, the literal meaning of 

 suerte being luck, and that of azar absence of luck ; but 

 these are merely terms, for the unlucky numbers win 

 when the lucky ones lose. The other winning points or 

 suertes are two fives, two threes, and five and six ; the 

 losing ones or azares are two fours, two twos, and one 

 and two. Other throws do not count. ^ Any one of the 

 players begins the game by staking either a single sum or 

 two amounts, one in front of the other. If but a single 

 sum be staked, the player when he throws the dice says 

 'paro,' and he wins or loses the whole amount by throwing 

 suertes or azares. Should numbers that do not count 

 be cast, then the right to throw passes, and the player 

 throwing does so on the same conditions as he who threw 

 first. When two amounts are staked, one in front of 

 the other, the player says ' paro pinto '^ He wins both 

 amounts with the double suertes, the two sixes, the two 

 fives, and the two threes ; he loses them with the double 

 azares, the two ones, two twos, and two fours. He wins 

 the sum placed in front only with five and six, and loses 

 it with one and two. 



Monte de dados is in reality a modified form of para 

 pinto, where one man holds the bank and throws the dice, 

 while the players bet either on the right or on the left, 

 the terms suertes y azares being used to indicate the 

 right and left respectively. Every time the banker throws 

 two threes or two fours he deducts twenty-five per cent, 

 from the amount staked on the winning side, so that in 

 the long run the bank is sure to win, as is always the 



' Such numbers as one and three, one and four, two and three, two and 

 four, &c., do not count. 



- There are modifications of this — where three sums are staked, for 

 instance — but a detailed account of all such combinations would be tedious. 



