corn. — I far vest. 



I»7 



Europe, M as not productive of good in tlie main. The 

 same apology cannot be made for systematic cock- 

 fighting. The Malays, it is well known, are passionately 

 attached to this Iiarbarily, called by them sabottfp 

 ayani. Can enlightened Kuglaud condemn thein 

 when she looks into her own bosom ? The Malays 

 ore perhajis ecpially scientific as the most cirifi ■>! 

 European in the selecting-, training, and m minf/ td 

 their game-cocks. This demoralizing and ruin >ns 

 sport lias been long, happily, suppressed on Penaugand 

 tlie opposite coast. Of course, the suppression cannot 

 extend to the bin Is themselves ; so neighbours occasi- 

 onally enjoy the sight of their miking use of nature's 

 weapons it) their private quarrels, about the right and 

 title to some favorite belle of the rpost; hi propoi lion 

 as these channels to over-excitement have been closed, 

 have gaming with dice, or po y and its attendants po- 

 verty , robbery and theft increased, and these mischiefs 

 have, it may safely be said, been aggravated mu< < 

 gambling was removed from fiscal controul and left free 

 of tythe to the cognizance of the law. To eradii iate 

 die passion is perhaps impossible ; for it is linked with 

 eraJ natural and beneficial faculties and aspirations, 

 as well as evil ones, of the human mind. To keep it 

 down to such a level that it shall not break occasional 

 gaps tin the barriers of social life, is a thing <*\ 



difficult achievement, and not to be achieved by any 

 police muddled by the principles of a free state. 

 The vice presents itself to us in these Indo-Chinese 

 regions as an irrepressible mental aberration, to which 

 palliatives may possibly be applied with some small 

 advantage. The mere operation of English law can 

 hardly extend deeper into the evil than to reduce it to 

 the dimensions, of a permitted or ol a connived-at 

 nuisance. 



The Chinese are more determined gamblers than 

 the Malays; scarcely an individual of either sex of the 



