376 CHAPTER L1IL 



foul stroke with the half-closed fist, for which an 

 English boy would be sent to Coventry, even in the 

 lowest Commercial Academy. There are many 

 things in France which a person of cosmopolitan ideas 

 may view with much complacency, but this military 

 kicking drill is so unmanly, so utterly ungraceful and 

 undignified, that one is amazed to see any men sub- 

 mitting to it. We were always on excellent terms 

 with the polite, good-natured, and well-behaved 

 soldiers of the Chasseur regiment in St. Martin 

 Vesubia. 



Two elements make up a native fete, dancing 

 and gambling : there is not much drinking and 

 guzzling. I have seen as many as eight little gaming 

 tables in a row. The variety of systems is infinite, 

 from the lottery or " Tombola," to pure roulette. The 

 simplest and commonest arrangement consists of a 

 circular board which supports a pyramid of cheap 

 crockery. This revolves with a clicking sound which 

 never ceases at these fetes. 



The two great Ligurian games are Mora* and 

 Bowls. Of the former a ludicrously inaccurate de- 

 scription is given in one of Howells' books. It is clear 

 that this writer has never played the game, nor even 

 taken the trouble to look on while a couple of mule 

 drivers dashed their knuckles on the table, shouting 

 "three! seven ! five! four!" 



Bowls, as played here, is a simple and primitive 

 game. Any bit of waste ground will suit, or even 

 the dusty road. Herbert Spencer criticises the 



* The game of Mora is one of the most widely spread ; it was known 

 to the Ancient Egyptians, and when I lived in China I found the natives 

 there were adepts at it. T. H. 



