Evening Star Newspaper, September 28, 1924, Page 64

2 THE. SUNDAY ' STAR. WASHINGTON, D. C. SEPTEMBER 9%, 1924—PART 5. Diamond Hunters Force Way Up Narrow Stream in British Guiana Novel Use of Precious Stones in Household Utensils Observed by Visitors to Indian Village in Wilds. With his friend, Dudley Lewis, Mr. La Varre, a young American explorer, had set forth on a trip to Africa, intending to visit a few of the coastal towns of outh America on the way. At George- town, the capital of British Guiana, how .+ they were lured into the interior by exciting rumors of gold to be found there. As related in a preceding article, ten harrowing days were spent in a large canoe, propelled by negroes and commanded by “Capt.” Peter Scarsville—days filled with hair- breadth escapes from being swal- lowed up in the scething rapids of the M runi River. In this, the second of a serles of five art , there appears the promise of greater treasure than gold — of diamonds, concerning which Mr. La Varre had entertained hopes since the mention of precious stones by a giant negro, who had first shown him a lump of gold brought from the interior. As an undergraduate at Harvard, Mr. La Varre had fortunately taken some courses in mineralogy. The knowl- edge then guined was to be of help to him in his further adven- tures. BY WILLIAM J. LA VARRE. ) often in life one’s dreams and desires never really materialize. But this was not the case with the unfolding of the mysteries of the jungle. My hopes had been aroused at the prospect of see- ing Indians—the wild, untutored chil- dren of the forest. Hardly had we begun paddling on the placid river after our last encounter with rapids when there appeared ahead of us, but on the farther shore, a long, slender canoe, which lay lightly on the water. There were six Indians sitting in the hull and one was standing. As we approached 1 could see that he held a long javelin in his upraised hand. A few strokes more and we had reached the other shore. The blacks ceased paddling as the heavy boat glided slowly toward the slender ca- noe. This craft seemed like a long piece of bark that had been curled up with the ends open. It floated upon the water like a sun-dried piece of cinnamon skin. The edges of the bark were barely out of t water. hey're naked!” Dudley whispered. “Regular savages!” Except for a thin strip of cotton bound about their loins, they were naked indecd. They were small Deo- Ple, and their cyes as they ched us approach seemed more like those of frightened animals than of savage men. a-re!” Capt. Peter intoned softly “Me-a-re!” plied without sion. Their bland oriental cast, slanting eyes. ‘copper, and g! morning sunlight rubbed their bodies with oil. In the bottom of their canoe I could see several large red fish, very much like salmon. Suddenly the standing Indian hunched his shoulders forward, and with an audible snap of his wrist he flung his long javelin through the still air. 1 recoiled unconsciot. ly, as though he had aimed the weapon at me, but had he done so no human ef- fort on my part could have been quick enough to dodge that wicked point. The javelin cut deep into the water between our boat and the bark canoe. There was an instantaneous commo- tion, and I saw the bright white and red scales of a good-sized fish. “Pacu!” Capt. Peter whispered. “Some shot, hey?” The Indian held the end of a slen- der cord which had been tied to the spear, and he began hauling in the harpooned fish. But he had not pulled in the churning epecimen a yard be- fore the surrounding river became streaked with sharp fins that cut the water like razor blades, as a horde of small fish scooted underneath the surface from all directions toward the wounded pacu. The line that secured the harpoon was snapped in- stantly a:d the water about the speared pacu began to boil. Hun- dreds, if not thousands, of small fish seemed to have charged from the surrounding river and to be attack- ing the bLigger fish, which in turn seemed to be fighting savagely to free itself from the end of the spear. “Perai!” 1 heard the Indians mur- mur. They leaned over the edge of their Ganoe, evidently delighted with the commotion. And it was a battle royal at which they looked. The perai, little devilish cangibals that they were, no sooner had tqro the large fish into shreds than they turned on one another like a pack of tiny water wolves fighting its own wound- €d rgembers. “Ugh!” Dudley gasped. * fall overboard just naw!" I shivered at the thought. So these were the fish that President Roase- velt had written about so dramtically. 1 recollected that critical people at home had accused him of telling im- possible fish stories. But I would rather have faced a drove of wild elephants than to have fallen into the water in the midst of that pisca- torial maelstrom. One may some- times dodge a charging elephant, but those myriads of small demons were 1ot to be evaded. “Out blades called Capt. suddenly. “Day's getting late.” And the men, as though they had already suffered enough under the restraint of such close proximity to the wild Indians, of whom they seemed strangely afraid, dug their blades deeply into the water and we began edging out into midstream again. The Indians regarded us for & moment and then paddled away into a small, dark creek. We had been on the river only two hours after the midday pause for Juncheon when Capt. Peter pointed hastily at a long dead branch of a giant tree that stretched over the water just above our immediate path. “Ha. there! Big snake!” he yelled, Serking his steering paddle to the side in order to veer the boat away from its due course, directly under the sun-scorched ltmb. The men dug in furiously on the left side to get the boat away from the jngle bank and out from under the tree. Dudley and I got out quickly from beneath our hooded shelter, seizing our guns. Yes, there, stretched along the sun-dried limb, was a tremendous snake. Its great scales sparkled in the sunlight. It raised its flat head and gazed down at us. We were barely five yards away. The blacks were horror- stricken. Dudley fired first, and then I sent two shots in quick succession into the upraised head. The snake wrapped its %ail around the limb and began slashing its wounded head back and forth beneath the limb. “It's sixty feet long at least!” I shouted above the noise of the pad- dlers’ excitement. I put another slug into the beast. It must have punctured its spine where it gripped the supporting tree, for instantly the colls relaxed their grip around the trunk and the long, heavy body fell into the water. 1 had thought that the water in the rapids was in a turmoil, but it was as nothing compared to the foaming whirlpool which that tremendous, wounded reptile now upchurned. ¥i- nally, though, it became quleter, and Capt. Peter ventured to slip a loop of rope over fits shredded head. The body was entirely too big to haul into the boat, even if the blacks had not been violently opposed to this. But 1 did not Intend to lose the skin of such a magnificent beast. the standing Indian re- changing his expres- distinct and faces had a with flat noses Their skin was light tened in the early though they had d hate to Peter behind us in the “1 can skin it “We'll_drag it water,” T suggésted while the men paddle.” Accordingly I squatted down in the sern of the boat, and, dragging up a foot or two of the heavy body, 1 began slitting the xkin down the white belly with a sharp machete. Thi scales were too brittle for my slender hunting knife. The skinning was difficult, had to pull the skin with all my strength to get it from the snake's body. Every now and then I chopped off a peeled section of his body and threw it back into the water, coiling the freshly removed skin about my feet. Then suddenly, when I had skinned barely three yards, the end of the snake came out of the water, a jagged, red end. The suddenness of it amazed and aggrieved me. The blacks giggled among themselves. “Perail” Capt. Peter laughed. “They've clean eaten up your snake story It was the first time in my life that T had occasion to curse fish as a genus. 1 did it thoroughly, much to the delight of the black paddlers, who profited gladly by the chance to learn new English word I sliced a few strips from the con- strictor’s hide, intending to make a belt and a hatband later on, and threw the rest to the blacks, who eagerly cut other pieces from the hide. We were a happy caravan. e WARD noon, while on the river, we saw a heavy column of smoke rising above the jungle on the left bank “Big Tndian and I settlement,” Capt. Peter said. “Seems about two miles back in the forest.” “While we stop for lunch a few of us will go in,” I said. So we pointed the boat toward the left bank, and, finding a place where the men could cook lunch, we landed. Dudley, Capt. Peter, two of the blacks who carried knives, and [ went into the forest. Dudley and I were all cagerness for the first sight of a primitive community. As we went into the forest, the blacks cutting holes in the jungle ahead of us, we crossed a small trail. Capt. Peter did not follow it, but kept a true course westward. We hurried on until pres- ently we met another path, this time larger and well trampled. “Gue: this heads toward the vil- lage,” said Capt. Peter, looking up through the tree tops at the sun for hig bearings. And so it did, for soon we saw in- creasing patches of light showing up through the trees ahead, and suddenly came out into a large clearing. There was a score of small thatched huts, with no sides, surrounding a large conical hut. Dogs began barking, but we saw no human life The black men hesitated “Me not goin' in!" one of them ex- claimed. *“Too much humbug, dees Injins!" “Wait here, then,” said Capt “and be quiet.” A few paces more, and We saw a single brown head appear from be- hind a secluded hut, then other faces, then shoulders, and finally several amall men came out in full view, each holding a slender tube in one hand and a bunch of small darts in the other. “They've got poisoned Dudley whispered. Capt. Peter quickly held his hands above his head and called: “‘Me-a-re! Me-a-re!” Other Indians came into view, as if from nowhere, until we stood facing a score or more of well-armed men. Many small boys eyed us defantly as they gripped their small bows and arrows tightly, Then women began to appear. They wore no clothes other than a small apron of beads slung in front of them by thin cords around their hips. I had often read of the beautiful physiques that primitive women have. But these Akawola women were not beautiful. They were short and squat. Their legs were bowed and barrel-shaped. With their heavy, flat features they resembled Mongolians. 1 looked at the warriors asgain, watching for some opportunity to ad- vance. They were all very short and chunky. They seemed very well built, but their smooth bodi showed not a single trace of muscular development. Some of them had paint on their faces. Some were tattoocd on the body. They stood there looking askance at us for a brief time, while we dared not ap- proach nearer until they had an- swered our welcom Finally an old man who was drawn a little apart from the rest of the village uttered a low “Me-a-re,” almost like a purring cat. Imstantly the cordon of warriors broke up, dispersed to hide their weapons, and returped to stare at us again. Dudley and I inspected the village Peter, “SHE DREW A WRIGGLING LINE ACROSS THE CLAY, WHICH I UNDERSTOOD TO MEAN THE RIVER.” while Capt. Peter made friends with the Indians. They seemed not so in- terested in him, though, for his skin was dark copper, almost like their own. We had white skins, and they followed us about the village. The insides of their homes were very bare. They did not have very many objects that would attract a curio hunter, but 1 picked out a few nicely decorated spears, several heavy war clubs, and then my eyes caught the glitter of a large board grater, similar to many I had seen in American Indian camps. We learned that the board was used for grating vegetables and shrubs One of its uses was in pressing the juice from the roots of the cassava. The starch thus obtained from this plant, when dried in the sun, becomes tapioca. The board was two feet long and a foot wide, and upon one surface had been imbedded sharp crystals, half- covered with hard wax. A Dotato rubbed over the surface soon became shredded. 1 picked up the grater and added it to the objects I wanted, and was about to move off, hastened b Capt. Peter's courteous suggestion that we ought to hurry back to the boat, as it wasn't best to leave the blacks alone too long under the soie guidance of the small bowman, when my eyes suddenly caught a glitter from several crystals that composed the bottom row of the grater. 1 paused to examine them carefully. The crystals, although half sub- merged in a matrix of hardened gum, were sharp angled and seemed to be hexagonal. The faces of the crystals were as highly polished as though they had been newly ground, and there was a queer, oily sheen to the surfaces when the sun struck them, the light splitting up into’. multl- eolored ray - “Say'" I whispered to Dudley, who was observing the object of my in- vestigation. “These are not quartz Look at them.” Dudley inspected the crystals care- fully. He dug one of them out with his penknife. Holding it in his fin- gers, he touched the sharp point to another duller crystal that had the striations peculiar to quartz. The little crystal in his finger tips made a_ distinct scratch over the larger piece of quartz. “The only thing quartz,” said Dudley diamond. Excitedly 1 picked the crystal from his fingers. 1 knelt down on the ground and placed the crystal on a flat plece of granite which the In- dians used as a_mortar for corn. I topk out my kaife and pressed on top of the little crystal with all my strength. It did not crush. Instead it ate deeply into the grante. “It is a diamoad!” I cried with emo- tion. Dudley and T held a quick confer- ence in subdued tones. We decided to seratch ‘is a that'll slowly, let old Capt. Peter in on our secret. When we had told him and he had examined the stone, he felt, as we did, that it was a diamond “What did 1 tell “What did 1 tell you?" Dudley looked at me questioningly. “Capt. Peter told me when I hired him for the voyage that there were diamonds in the interior,” 1 acknowl- edged, “but 1 didn't want to raise your hopes too much, so I didn't say anything to you about it.” “Well, there are diamonds!” Dudley exclaimed “We've got came from.' The Indians meanwhile looking on, watching what to them was a curious display of interest in sual a household commodity. Peter picked up the grating board, and, approaching the old In- dian, who seemed to be the chieftain, pointed to the row of bright diamonds and motioned to the jungle. “Where did you get them?” his sign lanzuage clearly said The 0ld savage shook his head. “Me no sabe!” he grunted. That was a phrase we learned aft- rward that had come to them from a Spanish adventurer. and they used it whenever they wanted to feign ignorance. “Oh, you savvy Peter exclaimed went on ing. lapsing into an indistinct patois, A bright idea came to me There was a4 wrinkled among the crowd who plainly was the queen if the old man was the king. 1 motioned her to one side and she came hesitatingly. Then, pointing to crystal in my hand and motioning to another grating board which had a similar row of diamonds at the bot- tom, I asked her in all kinds of ways where the diamonds came from It was no use. All she said was “Me no sabe: me no sabe.” I reached my hand in my coat pocket and took out a small mirror and let her look into it She giggled childishly took out a jar of scented vaseline and undid the cover. She smelled it and giggled again as 1 handed it to her, Then I took out a bundle of red beads and a little vial of cheap held them tightly in my she grabbed for them. head “No, I signaled to her. ou these when you tell You got these little stone She looked at me for a few mo- ments more, as though she didn't yet Then she looked cautiously you?" he said. to find out where they I said had been 1l right!” Capt. old woman 1 shook my “I give me where talk- | the | around at the Indian villagers, evi- dently to see if any were looking. Then she bent down close beside me on the ground and picked up a small BY JOHN J. McIVER. Note.—The writer is Department of Commel ger. American vice consul China, and_the Mei Wah (hina, for the colorfal and his- ts woven in the siory, reveai omantic history of the orien Eame of mah Joogg. indebted to the . Davia C.’ Ber at_ Tientsin, Company of N using the less familiar spelling of the name of the game that has become so popular in the United States within the last two or three vears it is not intended to add another name to the number which have already been given it both in China and in the United by advertisers and players alike. It is simply an attempt to ap- | ply # well known system of Roman- |ization to the name of the game as | it is pronounced in Mandarin, the of- | ficial language of China. This system was introduced by Sir | Thomas Wade, the noted British sin- ologue, and has by general usage be- come the standard among English- speaking students of the Chinese lan- guage. The “chiang”’ should not be pronounced “chee-ang,” but should be more nearly “dj-iang,” with a drop of the voice, or terminal sound. Of the other names by which the game has been called. numbers of which have appeared in print, the Cantonese “cheunk,” pronounced more or less as “juck,” with the final “k" very lightly sounded: the Ningpo pronunciation, in which the whole name is changed to something more or less approximated by "mo jia,” and the Shanghai, which is nearly “mojiang.” are more used in China. At present in China there is in ex- istence the card game which is the direct antecedent of ma chiang. This is called “shui hu” and has a clear and shining record of about 14 cen- turies, dating from T'ang dynasty (618-904 A.D.). Shui hu is played with 120 cards of the same material as the ordinary playing card used in the United States and the method of play is very similar to that ma chiang. The cards are numbered from one to nine; there are four of each number and three varieties, just as the so-called “bam- boos,” “circles” and “characters” of ma chiang, with the addition of three “honor suits,” which approximate the “dragons” in ma chiang. The game is played with three players or with four. If there are four players, one must “cut in" with each “round.” The system of play is, with slight variations, the same as Ma Chiang, the object being to fill the hand with threes, fours and series just as in Ma Chiang. At its inception the game was called Yeh Tzu Hsi (playing of leaves), but some time during the Sung or Ming dynasties the name was changed to Ma Tiao. During the reign of the Emperor T'ien Ch'i of the Ming dynasty, between 1621 and 1628 A.D., the game of Ma Tiao be- came very popular, espeeially among the officers of the Emperor's guard. At the time of Ch'ien Lung (1736 to 1795 A.D.), of the Ch'ing dynasty, because it 80 happened that the num- ber of the cards exactly corresponded with the number of the heroes in a famous Chinese novel which was written during the Ming dynasty by a renowned scholar of Shantung, the name was changed to “Shui Hu,” and 80 remains to the present day. This novel was based on the his- torical fact that during the Sung dynasty a certain Sung Chiang gathered together a band of robbers, 36 in number, and made his head- quarters very near the mountain which was the lair of the Lin Cheng bandits of 1923, in a place called Liang Shan Po, which is situated on a river, hence the novel was called “Shui Hu" or “river bank.” Some time during the Ch'ing dynasty (1644-1911) three more card: called, respectively, Lao Ch'in, Hung Jen and Pai Hua, were added. These cards correspond to what are known as the “dragons” in the modern game of Ma Chiang. The story goes that Lao Ch'in was a bandit, @ sort of Chinese Robin Hood, who delighted in taking money from the rich and giving it to_the poor and unfortunate. Lao Ch'in, having been captured, was being sent in the care of Hung Jen to the capital to be put to desth, For- tunately, however, Lao Ch'in found that Hung Jen was amenable to rea- son, and he promptly joined partner- ship with the bandit and formed a group or soclety called the Pai Hus. The addition of these 12 cards, four cards for each of the three men, in- creased the total number to 120. We now come to the development of the present game of Ma Cniang. The devotees of Shul Hu, of course, 'were oonstantly annoyed by the fact that the cards quickly wore out, be- stick. She drew a wriggling line across the trampled cla; She made a little mark off to one side. She put the stick on the spot and motioned to the village. Then she traced a line from the spot which was the village back to the wriggling line, which I understood to be the river, then traced upward along the river. She paused and drew a little tribu- tary from the right, then continuedl, then drew another, then she made the twisting line of the river bend sharply to the east. She left the river and second tributary, which I realized was traced her'stick along the line of the a creek, leading into the river from the east, the second such creek up the river. Her stick stopped half way up the creek. 1 signaled Dudley and Capt. Peter, but the old woman grew afraid, grabbed the heads and the perfume and hid in the large central hut. Capt. Peter's cyes sparkled when he saw the crudely drawn chart in the clay. He had been unable to get any information from the chief. Dudley studied it over my shoulder as I ex- plained what the 0ld woman had done. “Maybe she only fooled you,” Dudley said skeptically. _ “She acted as though she were tell- ing the truth,” I answered, “and was .}:{r:l'n'l the village folk would catch er." ‘We looked at the chart again. ‘“The second creek,” Capt. Peter re- peated. I rubbed the map from the ground with my shoe, “Right!” I exclaimed succinetly. We grabbed up a few arrows and other things we had selected and one potato grater, gave the Indian thing we had, including the coinsg, and started toward the r “We won't tell the blacks,” I cau- tioned Capt. Peter. “It might be too much of a temptation.” As we went out of the jungle has- tily toward our boat, Capt. Peter called my attention to some yellow streaks across the dried-up bed of a small creek. The ground was coated with black magnetite sand, in which there was a distinct trace of this yellow metal. “Gold!" he said breathiessly, in paying quantities, too.~ I picked up a handful of the fine dirt, and saw the distinct grains of soft, yellow gold in the baser mate- rial. 1 shook my head. “That would have been a great dis- covery a few hours ago, but now— we're after diamonds!"” Soon we passed one creek, a little silvery thread flowing silently into the large river from the west. Our and hearts beat faster as we scanned the shore for the next. Two hours more and then we saw it. Far ahead of us we distinctly saw an opening in the green foliage, along the shore, and distinctly made out every detail of the narrow entrance to a tributary creek. “There!™ T shouted. “There!” echoed Dudley. Capt. Peter steered the heavy craft directly toward the narrow mouth. The paddlers beat time faster and faster as they swung to their paddles. By inches, it seemed, we approached the mouth of the creek. There was a dead tree standing at the edge of the junction—a whitened, dead tree that had several gnarled branches. On one of them I saw gleaming a huge white skull. I was suddenly horrified. The mouth of the creek of desire and a sun-bleached skull staring us in the face! It's a wild pig's head,” Capt. Peter explained, seeing my tense counte- nance. The bow of the boat was abreast the opening now, and we turned in. We headed into the narrow breach in the forest. The trees came down overhead in a dense arbor, shutting out all the direct light of the blazing sun. The beat of 24 paddle blades made a tremendous echo within the subforestal channel. And then we came to an abrupt grating stop. The bow of the boat raised a foot out of the water, rocked back and forth for a moment and then remained poised in the air. We had run on a submerged log. We couid not pass At the mouth of the creek of dia- monds we had found a whitened skul and were rudely halted by a per- emptory log. I shuddered, wondering secretly whether the skull had been an ill' omen. The jungle quickly breeds superstition. Then I remem- bered the old squaw’s diagram. “Cut the log!” I cried. *“We're go- ing throught!” (Coprright, 1924.) ——o e Operation on Lion. VETERINARY lanced and treated a big boil that had developed be- tween the eves of one of the lions in the Hamburg, Germany, Zoo. The attendants feared trouble, but the lion submitted quietly to a inch inci: n, suffered the veterinary to clean the wound and when released quietly resumed its cage life. Ma Chiang, Called Also Mah Jongg, Associated With Chinese Leaders came soiled and could not be w. and in addition it was necessary to hold them in the hand while playing, all of which detracted from the plea: ure to be derived from the game. They. therefore, began to look about for ‘other and more suitable mate- rial from which to manufacture the cards and finally hit on the idea of ivory. The cards were first made of solid ivory, but it was afterward found that the cards of solid ivory were not only very expensive but were, on account of the color. more eastly soiled than those manufactured of an ivory or bone face, mortised and glued to a back of bamboo wood. The figures and characters at the beginning were simply painted on the ivory or bone faces of the cards, but as it was found that this paint- ing was not very durable on account of the constant friction to which the face of the Ma Chiang card is sub- jected in play, it quickly became the custom first to carve the numbers and figures into the face of the card and then color them, thus developing the Ma Chiang card now in use. 1t Is not quite clear as to who is responsible for making the first Shut Hu cards of bamboo wood and bone or ivory, but it is believed that the soldlers of Hung Hsiu-Chu'an, the “Heavenly Prince” of the “Iaiping” rebels, were responsible. Whether ot not they were the originators of that form of card, it is known that the soldiers of the “Heavenly Prince” were addicted to the game and, it is said, used it to gamble for drinks. As is well known, the “Taiping” or Chinese “long-haire activitles in the Province of Kwangsi about 1850 during the reign of the Emperor Haien Feng and by 1 had oaptured the oity of Nanking and controlled practically the whole of the Yangtze Valley. The “Heavenly Prince” set up his court in Nanking and it was here that the southern Chinese in his army—as is typical of their enterprising, inventive genius which is still the boast of the Canto- nege—developed the great foe of boredom in the modern American's leisure moments, the present-day game of Ma Chiang. It is to them that we are indebted for the winds, East, South, West and North, by which we double our score—per- haps. They also changed Hung Jen to_the present-day “Red Dragon” or “Chung,” La&o Ch’in was changed to the “Green Dragon” or “Fa” and Pai Hua to the “White Dragon” or “Pal Pan.” These were, however, called by the rebels “Tien,” “Wang' and “T"ung,” the titles of certain of their leaders, After the capture of Nanking by the imperial troops, some of the fol- lowers of Hung Hsiu-ch'uan were al- lowed to remain and live in the City of Ningpo, into which place they in- troduced the game of Ma Chiang and also the manufacturing of Ma Chiang ets, for which industry Ningpo is still famous. It is not known just how or where | used by the salt merchants of Yan rebels began their | use of the r “flowers" introduced, but it is known that they are of very recent date and it is thought that they may have been first how and Hwaian. It through them that the troduced to North China about the time of the establishment of the Chinese Republic the game was not plaved in North China, ex- cept among visitors from the south or among those northern Chinese who had resided in South China. At present in Tientsin the “single suit” game is almost never played, either among natives or foreigners, and in the Tientsin Club the use of the “seasons” or ‘flowers” is taboo, whereas in the American Club at Shanghai the one-suit game with the addition of “flowers” and ‘“table winds” is the vogue. In the conserv- ative city of Peking one may quite often, when asking the question, “What game do you play?” on taking his seat at the table, be grected with the answer, usually in a somewhat superior tone of voice, “Oh, we play the Chinese game exactly as the Chi- nese themselves do.” This is, of course, very good, but it is also well to remember that among the four hundred odd million people of China one may also find an enormous num- ber of well recognized methods of play. Some say that 3,000 vears ago a few fishermen hailing from Ningpo in- vented the game to ward off sea- sickness. Long before the days of suggestion and auto-suggestion, these simple fisher folk believed that mal de mer could be prevented by a concentration on other things, so they brought Mah Jongg into exist- ence, All classes of society in China seem to have had a hand in the invention. Another version credits a soldierT. Taken by itself, the word “Jongg” means general; and Ma was his name. Gen. Ma lived in the Ming dynasty (1368-1643), and it is said that he introduced the amusement to enable his soldiers to while away their lelsure hours, as well as to reduce crime by keeping them en- gaged. This version has an air of credi- bility, which it preserves in the dc- tails.” The names of the different suits, as runs the tale, have a mili- tary connection. “East” “West," “North” and “South” indicated the gates of a Chinese walled city: “white dragon” represented the geun- eral's hat, which, in those days, was white; “bamboo™’ signified an arrow; “circle” was the target for the arrow; and so on. The Gen. Ma mentioned was the general commanding the troops of the Emperor T'ien Ch'i and the game so much enjoyed by his soldiers was not the modern Ma Chiang, but was the card game which is at present known as Shui Hu, but which was then called Ma Tiaco. Central Chine, especially Shanghai and neighboring cities, is the prin- is possibly me was in- as up until of production of Ma for export trade. The in the shops of Tientsin (the sale of Ma Chiang sets is pro hibited by ordinance in the City of Peking) are almost all manufactured in the Shanghai district. Ma Chiang manufacturing as an industry has never been developed in North China, even for local consumption, on ac- count of the lack of the proper mate- rials and also of the properly trained artisans. The growth of the business of manufacturing and exporting Ma Chiang sets in the Shanghal district has grown enormously, howeper, since the game has become so pu- lar abroad, especially in the United States. 5 The value of the exports of Ma chiang to the United States ‘through the port of Shanghai. which before the second quarter of 1922 were small as not to merit separate tabu- lation, were $10.127 in that quarter, as compared with $655,247 during the third quarter of 1923. In the manufacturing of Ma Chiang sets of bone and wood a certain amount of skill is required in order that the figures may be well carved and the painting well and tastefully done. One of the reasons for the lead that the Shanghai district has’ taken in the manufacture and ex- port of the sets is that they have been manufactured for home use for many vears in and around Shanghai and Mingpo, and well traincd work- men were available. Another rea- son is that the material for the back of the card, which is the wood of a particular variety of bamboo, is found in great abundance in that section. In buying a Bet of the ancient Chinese game of Ma Chiang, one hardly realizes that he is indirectly supporting American farming indus- try. This, however, is a fact, due to recent developments in the manu- facture of the game Ordinarily a Ma Chiang set is made with the tiles bone surfaced, as im well known, and this bone comes from the shin bones only of the cow. The growing popularity of the game in America, which caused American imports to jump from a value of $74.50 in 1921 to the astonishing figure of $564.500 for the first nine months of 1923, rather exhausted the supply of shin bones from Chinese cows, and developed the importation into China of bones from the large American packing houses. American cows' shin bones to the extent of $63,900 were Imported into Shanghat during the first six months of 1923, constituting a definite percentage of America's investment in the com- pleted Mah Jongg sets. Inquiry among exporters of Ma Chiang here reveals a continued £00d business with America despite clvil war conditions near Shanghai. This game has been variously called in English Ma Chiang, Mah-| Jongg, Mah Choh, Mah Diao, Pung Woo, Pung Chow, Mah Cheuk’ and.a great variety of other names. - [ cipal place Chiang sets sets for sale