382 ON SIAMESE LITERATURE. 



any one of the opposite party catches the bit of wood, his party wins, but 

 if not then one of that party casts it towards the pit — the person stationed 

 there endeavours to stop it, or strike it off. If he does not succeed his 

 party goes out. If he stops seven times, or the opposite party is kept out 

 seven rounds, then the person at the hole strikes off the stick again, and if 

 one of the opposite party catches it, he follows up and strikes it again and 

 again until it is caught— the losing party are then forced to run to the hole 

 and are obliged, according to the rules of the game , to make a nasal noise 

 called hu, as a signal of their being losers. The approximation of this 

 game to that of cricket may seem curious to the antiquary. 



Len thip ching cJia is a swing suspended betwixt two trees — and is a 

 common amusement amongst children and even grown up persons. 



Women play at several of the games described — particularly at hide 

 and seek — in company with the other sex. The fine still moonlight 

 evenings are preferred for this amusement, which is no doubt productive of 

 matches betwixt the young men and girls. 



The girls have likewise some simple games of their own — such as 

 throwing up pebbles and catching them before they fall, having first 

 taken up a certain number in the interval — Eephang longliim, where a 

 number of pebbles are thrown by one party to a hole and stopped by the 

 other from going into it. They are afterwards to be separately cast into it 

 by the exertion of one finger — the first party losing those not put in. 



Len Rua mat U rii din — are two games played by rolling, in the first 

 instance, balls of clay down an inclined plane, and in the second by letting 

 a bamboo model of a boat slide down it. He whose ball or boat goes furthest 

 of course wins. 



Maak yek is a game somewhat resembling drafts. It is played with 

 thirty-two men — sixteen of a side — and arranged respectively on their ^r^^ 

 and third lines. The pieces move in squares in all directions, the number 

 not being limited. The object is to get one or more of the adversaries' 

 pieces betwixt two of the players' ones, which, if there be no intervals be- 

 tween any of the confined and confining pieces, are taken — or if the draft 



