GAMBLING BANKS 89 



case where banks for gambling having the odds in their 

 favour are held, however small those odds may be. Most 

 of those who have tried their luck at the tables at Monte 

 Carlo for any length of time must have learnt by experi- 

 ence that the bank always wins in the end. 



Before bringing this chapter to a close, I would like to 

 warn those who, imbued with the gambling spirit, may 

 have mastered the principles of the games I have described, 

 and who may in the course of a visit to some Spanish- 

 American republic be proud of their knowledge and eager 

 to display it. My advice to such persons is, 'Do not 

 gamble with strangers.' You may be a very clever fellow, 

 you may be a good engineer, you may teach Spanish- 

 Americans how to lay a railway or erect a brewery, but 

 you are not going to teach them anything in cards 

 or dice. What the average man of Central and South 

 America does not know in these matters is not worth 

 knowing. 



