ome business to transact with a merchant--he left
us at one of them to dine. When he rejoined us, he told us that he
would take us to a scene in which he hoped we should never be tempted to
mix. We went out, and soon reached a magnificent building, full of
spacious halls, with an orchestra keeping up a succession of attractive
airs. Making our way, not without difficulty, through the crowd, we saw
before us several long, green-covered tables, surrounded by people, who
appeared to be engaged in playing, on a grand scale, every conceivable
game of chance. Never did I see countenances so palpably expressive of
the worst passions of our evil nature. The keepers of the banks were
evidently villains of the darkest dye. They sat with their revolvers on
the table, guarding the heaps of gold before them, as they skilfully
managed the cards and dice over which they presided. The captain
assured us that they and those in league with them--the professional
players--always contrived to collect the largest proportion of the gold
in circulation--many of their foolish victims dissipating in one evening
all the hard-earned gains of a year. There were ladies, too, among
them, gambling as eagerly as the men--dishonouring their sex. The sight
of those countenances and the whole air of the place was sickening.
"Fifty ounces"--"A hundred"--"Two hundred ounces"--were the words we
heard repeated on every side. Presently a man started up--a fine,
handsome young fellow--from before whom a heap of gold had been swept,
clutching his hair. "And I was to have started for home to-morrow. O
Mary!" he exclaimed, unconsciously, as he passed us. There was the
report of a pistol--a cry. The young man was picked up dead at the
door. The players went on as before, scarcely turning their heads to
hear the account. Who the unhappy youth was, no one knew. We had seen
enough to answer the captain's object in taking us to the place. We
strolled on through the city till we reached the Chinese quarter.
There, also, we were attracted by a strange noise intended for music,
produced by two stringed-fiddles, violoncellos, drums, and gongs, into a
building--a very shabby place; yet in the centre was a table with heaps
of gold upon it, and surrounded by a number of odd little men in wide
jackets, short trousers, long tails at their backs, huge embroidered
slippers on their feet, all deeply engaged, as if some most serious
matter were going forward--their