500 



BILLIARD S. 



Bill, 

 Billiards. 



with ophthalmia. Their principal food is the fj 

 the date tree, the indigestive effects of which they are 

 accustomed to correct by the use of" dried fish. They 

 use also camels milk, and goats flesh ; and, on ac- 

 count of the intolerable heat, their principal meal is 

 always after sun-set. They are extremely liable to 

 a most inveterate scurvy, which affects their 

 loosens their teeth, and sometimes spreads over their 

 whole body. In other respects, they are said to be 

 vigorous and healthy, living to a very advanced age, 

 and seldom subject to sickness and disease. The 

 small-pox, and even the plague, the great scourges of 

 Barbary, are said to be unknown in Biledul ;end, 

 though the countries are so contiguous, and the in- 

 habitants have so much intercourse. The natives are 

 chiefly employed in predatory excursions, in serving 

 occasionally as mercenaries under the ne 

 states, and particularly in hunting the ostrich, which 

 supplies them with various necessaries. The flesh is 

 used as food, the fat as medicine, the claws as orna- 

 ments ; the skin is made into pouches, and the fea- 

 thers constitute their most valuable article of traffic. 

 All these Arabs profess the religion or Mahomed; 

 but have little knowledge of its tenets, or regard to 

 its precepts ; and mix with it an endless variety of 

 Jewish ceremonies, and Pagan superstitions. See 

 Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. xvii. ; and Jackson's Afcouiit 

 of Morocco, (g) 



BILL. See Exchange. 



BILL. See Parliament. 



BILLIARDS, from the French Bielard, which 

 e"omes from billc, a ball, is a game of skill, which was 

 originally invented by the French, and is now much 

 in practice among all civilized nations. The apparatus 

 necessary in this game is a billiard table, which is a 

 rectangular table about 12 feet long, and six feet 

 wide, placed in a horizontal position, and covered 

 with green cloth, and surrounded with cushions, a 

 cue, a mace, and ivory balls. At each of the an- 

 gles, and in the middle of the two longest sides, is 

 placed a hole, net, or pocket. The cue is a thick 

 piece of wood several feet long, tapering gradually to 

 a point about half an inch in diameter. It is held by 

 the fore linger and thumb, and is laid over the left 

 hand to strike the balls. The mace, which is chiefly 

 used in this country, is a long straight rod of wood, 

 with a head at one end, made either of bone or ivory. 

 It is held by the small end, and the ivory ball is struck 

 with the other. The object of the player is to make 

 his adversary's ball roll into one of the holes, either 

 by striking it directly by his own, or by making his 

 own ball rebound from the sides of the table, and 

 then strike his adversary's ball, so as to carry it into 

 one of the holes. When a ball is thus put into one of 

 the holes, it is called a hazard, which is reckoned for 

 two in favour of the ptayer. 



In order to play billiards well, attention must at 

 first be paid to the method of holding the mace ; to 

 the position in which the player should stand, and 

 the manner of delivering the ball from the mace ; but 

 these are much more easily acquired by observation, 

 or by the direction of a good player, than by written 

 rales. A person who plays with his right hand must 

 stand with his left foot foremost ; and, on the con- 

 Vary, he who is left-handed, must place his right 



foot foremost, by which he will stand more steady B 

 and firm. 



There are various games at billiards ; viz. the \ 

 winning game ; the white losing g . I, or ca- 



rambole winning game ; the red i ne ; the 



simple carambule ;ame ; the winning and losing ca- 

 rambole game ; the bar hole game ; the bricole game ; 

 the Caroline game ; the choice ot bails game ; the 

 commanding game ; the cushion game ; the doublet 

 game; the four game; the hazards; the limited 

 game; the one hole game ; the Russian caramLoie ; 

 and the fortification billj r : an account of each of 

 which we shall give trom Hovie. 



littles ami liegulationt In lie ohasted at the While White win- 

 Winning Game, played xiith nco Witite Ball-,. The mug game, 

 game scored from winning hazards is twelve m num- 

 ber when two persons play, and fifteen when four play. 



1. String for the lead, and the choice of balls. 



2. When a person strings for the lead, he shoi.ld stand 

 within the limits of the comer of the table, and must 

 not place his ball beyond tile stringing nails or spots; 

 and the player who brings his ball nearest the cushion, 

 at the upper or baulk end ol the table, wins the lead. 



3. After the first person has ^trun ; tor the lead, if 

 the adversary who follows should make ins ball touch 

 the other, he loses the hid. 4. If the player hole* 

 his own ball, cither in stringing or leading, he li 

 the lead. 5. If the leader follows his bail with either 

 mac- or cue past the middle hole, it is no lead ; and 

 if his adversary chuses, In may make him lead ag in. 



6. The striker who plays at the lead, must stand ftith 

 both his feet within the limits of the corner of the 

 table, am) must nut place his ball beyond the string- 

 ing nails or spots ; and his adversary (only) is bound 

 to see that he stands and plays fair, ol .he 

 striker wins all the points he made by that stroke. 



7. After a hazard has been won, the balls are to 

 be sepant' d, and the striker is to lead as at first. 

 When a hazard has been lost in either of the corner 

 holes, tiie leader is obliged (if his adversary requires 

 it) to lead from the end of the table, where the hazard 

 was lost ; but if the hazard was lost in either of the 

 middle holes, it is at the leader's optioH to lead from 

 either end of the table lie pleases. 8. If the striker 

 does not hit his adversary's bail, he loses one point; 

 and if by the said stroke his ball should go into a hole, 

 over the table, or on a cushion, he loses three points, 

 viz. one for missing the ball, and two tor holing it, 

 &c. and he b ses the lead. 9. If the striker hole*, his 

 adversary's ball, or forces it over the table, or on a 

 cushion, lie wins two points ; but when lie holes either 

 his own ball, or both ol them, or forces either or both 

 of them over the tali!', pr on a cushion- he loses two 

 points. 10. No person has a right to take up his 

 own ball without permission from his adversary. 11. 

 If the striker should touch or move his own ball, not 

 intending to make a stroke, it is deemed an acci- 

 dent ; and his adversary may put the ball back to the 

 place where it stood. 12. If the striker forces his 

 adversary's ball over the table, and his adversary 

 should chance to stop it, so as to make it come on the 

 table again, the striker nevertheless wins two points. 

 13. But if the same events happen to his own ball, 

 the striker loses nothing by the stroke, and he has 

 the lead : because his adversary ought not to standi* 



