Gaming propensities of the 

 Chinese. 



SINGAPORE. 



Industrious habits of the people. 

 Mode of celebrating the new year. 



341 



is absolutely necessary during the heat of the day, 

 to shield the stranger from the burning rays of the 

 sun. These cooleys will run all day through it 

 without any inconvenience. They are principally 

 from the neighbourhood of Madras, and are gene- 

 rally about the middle size, thin, and muscular. 



We found, on our arrival, the whole of this 

 motley population engaged in a festival. With the 

 Chinese it was that of the New Year, and with the 

 Hindoo Mussulman the feast called " Mamma," or 

 the search for and finding of the grandchildren of 

 Mohamed. The Chinese, on such occasions, give 

 themselves up entirely to gambling; and the first 

 day and night I was on shore, this part of the town 

 might be considered as a vast gambling-shop. 

 During this holiday they are allowed to gamble as 

 much as they please, but what restriction is put 

 upon the open indulgence of gaming at other times, 

 I did not learn, but from appeai'ances I should 

 suppose it was not very severe. 



The extent to which gaming was carried by the 

 Chinese could not fail to astonish any one who had 

 not been brought up to it. It was extraordinary 

 to see all engaged in such an exciting vice; and 

 to watch the different individuals was amusing. 

 Gaming was going on in every shop, and frequently 

 in each particular corner, under the colonnades, in 

 the bazaars, and at the corner of almost every 

 street a variety of games were playing. Of several 

 of these I had no knowledge ; some were performed 

 with cards, and others with dice. The stake 

 seemed generally to be in small copper coin, called 

 pice, about five hundred to the dollar, each of 

 which is valued at three cowries; but although 

 this was the usual betting coin, the stake was some- 

 times silver, and at times to a considerable amount. 

 Those who have not seen the Chinese play, have 

 never witnessed the spirit of gambling at its height; 

 their whole soul is staked with their money, how- 

 ever small it may be in amount, and they appeared 

 to me to go as earnestly to work as if it had been 

 for the safety of their lives and fortunes. 



Almost every one has formed to himself an idea 

 of a Chinese; but to be well known, he requires to 

 be seen on his own soil, or where he is in inter- 

 course with his countrymen. The different indi- 

 viduals of this race seemed to us to have a strong 

 resemblance to each other, and although this may 

 in part be owing to similarity of dress, it is also 

 due to their bodily conformation. The flat chest, 

 in particular, is peculiar, at least to the labouring 

 class. All of them seem active and attentive to 

 their business, of whatever kind it may be, and as 

 far as outward expression and action go, as harm- 

 less as lambs. It is somewhat remarkable, that 

 the very sign which was put upon them by their 

 Tartar conquerors to mark them as a subdued 

 race, should now have become their national boast; 

 for nothing seems to claim a Chinaman's attention 

 so much as his long queue, and the longer and 

 blacker it is the more it appears to claim his admi- 

 ration. We frequently saw it touching the very 

 heels, and tied at the end neatly with a bit of 

 riband. On great occasions this hangs down to its 

 full length; but at other times, being somewhat in 

 the way, it is wound up on the back of the head. 

 I have heard it asserted, that the Chinese never 

 become bald or gray; but this opinion seemed to 

 be erroneous, from what I saw in this small com- 

 munity. 



The Chinese is at all times to be found indus- 

 triously employed, except when gambling ; and 

 were it not for this latter propensity, arid his de- 

 sire of cheating foreigners, has probably as few 

 vices as exist in any other race. Wherever he is 

 found, peace and quietness seem to dwell ; he moves, 

 and has been moving for ages in the same path, 

 and prefers all his own ways to those of the rest of 

 the world. We saw the Chinese in some pleasing 

 lights, and were much struck, on these festival oc- 

 casions, by their attention towards their children, 

 and the fondness and invariable kindness with 

 which they were treated. 



Before ceasing to speak of the Chinese, I shall 

 give a brief description of their mode of celebrat- 

 ing the New Year, although it was difficult to fol- 

 low it, and still more so to understand its full 

 meaning. The ceremonies consisted chiefly of 

 processions, both by night and day, in which the 

 whole Chinese population seemed to be engaged. 

 The grand one bore a sort of silken temple, which 

 was carried on the shoulders of several men, with 

 banners before and behind it, having Chinese cha- 

 racters on them, and of the most gaudy colours. 

 These were preceded by music, if such it could be 

 called, consisting of cymbals and gongs, on which 

 every performer strove to strike with his utmost 

 force, and, if possible, oftener than his neighbour. 

 Noise they at least created in perfection. This 

 procession was occasionally joined by smaller ones, 

 and the whole seemed to afford both to the crowd 

 and actors as much amusement as it did to us, to 

 whom it was altogether new. During the night, 

 and particularly on that of the 21st of February, 

 the last day of their year, the illuminated proces- 

 sions were curious, as well as amusing, and were 

 exceedingly numerous. Some of them were to 

 be seen in every street at the same time, and no 

 sooner had one passed than others were seen to 

 follow, all hurrying along as if there were some 

 goal to be reached. The illumination proceeded 

 from lanterns of all colours, sizes, and shapes. We 

 saw also the procession of juvenile horsemen, con- 

 sisting altogether of children. Each of them bore 

 the fore and hind parts of a horse in such a manner 

 that the child represented the rider. These mimic 

 portions of the quadruped were made of paper, and 

 illuminated. The effect was that of a miniature re- 

 giment of cavalry. Others were represented as if 

 on the backs of fish, that seemed to swim along in 

 the crowd. Some of the children were not more 

 than two years of age, and the oldest not more than 

 five or six. They were all fantastically dressed, 

 and some among them in European costume, which 

 had a grotesque effect among the more appropriate 

 dresses of the east. They were led about, preceded 

 by music, such as it was, of gongs and cymbals; 

 and all passed by on a dog-trot. Towards the close 

 of the evening, some of the children had attendants 

 on each side, who carried the poor little fatigued 

 creatures along, many of whom were nearly, if not 

 quite asleep. Whenever this procession halted, 

 the Chinese would load them with cakes and dulces, 

 and showed a kindness and attention truly pleasing. 

 The most extraordinary exhibition of the evening 

 was an immense illuminated sea-serpent, which we 

 all thought fully equalled, in size and movement, 

 the famous New England one, and agreed in other 

 respects tolerably well with its description, for he 

 had at intervals large bumps of the shape of a small 



