hazard. As in the other game, the baulk is no protection. Another variety of pyramids is known as Shell-out, a game at which any number of persons may play. The pyramid is formed as before, and the company play in rotation. For each winning hazard the striker receives from each player a small stake, and for each losing hazard he pays a like sum, fill the game is concluded by pocketing the white or the last coloured ball.
Pool, a game which, may be played by two or more parsons, consists entirely of winning hazards. Each player subscribes a certain stake to form the pool, and at starting has three chances or lives. He is then provided with a coloured or numbered ball, and the gams commences thus : The white ball is placed on the spot and the red is played at it from the baulk semicircle. If the player pocket the white he receives the price of a life from the owner of the white ; but if he fail, the next player, the yellow, plays on the red; and so on alternately till all have played, or till a ball be pocketed. When a ball is pocketed the striker plays on the ball nearest his own, and goes on playing as long as he can score.
The order of play is usually as follows : The white ball is spotted ; red plays upon white ; yellow upon red ; then blue, brown, green, bla^k, and spot-white follow in the order of succession named, white playing on spot-white. The order is similar for a larger number, but it is not common for more than seven or eight to join in a pool. The player wins a life for every ball pocketed, and receives the sum agreed on for each life from the owner of that ball. He losss a life to the owner of the ball he plays on and misses ; or by making a losing hazard after striking such ball ; by playing at the wrong ball ; by running a coup ; or by forcing his ball over the table. Rules governing the game provide for many other incidents. A ball in baalk may be played at by the striker whose ball is in his hand. If the striker s ball be angled that is, so placed in the jaws of the pocket as not to allow him to strike the previously-played ball he may have all the balls except his own and the object ball removed from the table to allow him to try bricole from the cushion. In some clubs and public rooms an angled ball is allowed to be moved an inch or two from the corner ; but with a ball so removed the player must not take a life. When the striker loses a life, the next in rota tion plays at the ball nearest his own ; but if the player s ball happen to be in hand, he plays at the ball nearest to the centre spot on the baulk line, whether it be in or out of baulk. In such a case the striker can play from any part of the semicircle. Any ball lying in the way of the striker s ball, and preventing him from taking fair aim and reaching the object-ball, must be removed, and replaced after the stroke. If there be any doubt as to the nearest ball, the distance must be measured by the marker or umpire ; and if the distance be equal, the ball to be played upon must be decided by chance. If the striker first pocket the ball he plays on and then runs his own into a pocket, he loses a life to the player whose ball he pocketed, which ball is then to be considered in hand. The first player who loses all his three lives can "star;" that is, by paying into the pool a sum equal to his original stake, he is entitled to as many lives as the lowest number on the marking board. Thus if the lowest number be two, he stars two ; if one, he stars one. Only one star is allowed in a. pool ; and when there are only two players left in, no star can be purchased. The price of each life must be paid by the player losing it, immediately after the stroke is made ; and the stake or pool is finally won by the player who remains longest in the game. In the event, however, of the two players last left in the pool having an equal number of lives, they may either play for the whole or divide the stake. The latter, the usual course, is fol lowed except when the combatants agree to play out the game. When three players are left, each with one life, and the striker mikes a miss, the two remaining divide the pool without a stroke this rule being intended to meet the possible case of two players combining to take advantage of a third. When the striker has to play, he may ask which ball he has to play at, and if being wrongly informed he play at the wrong ball, he does not lose a life. In clubs and public rooms it is usual for the marker to call the order and rotation of play : " Red upon white, and yellow s your player ;" and when a ball has been pocketed, the fact is notified "Brown upon blue, and green s your player, in hand ;" and so on till there are only two or three players left in the pool.
There are some varieties of the game which need brief mention.
Single Pool is the white winning hazard game, played for a stake and so much for each of three or more lives. Each person has a ball, usually white ami spot-white. The white is spotted, and the other plays on it from the baulk semicircle ; and then each plays alternately, spotting his ball after making a hazard. For each winning hazard the striker receives a life ; for each losing hazard he pays a Jife ; and the taker of the three lives wins the game. No star is allowed in single pool. The rules regulating pool are observed.
Nearest Ball Pool is played by any number of persons with the ordinary coloured balls, and in the same order of succession. All the rules of pool are followed, except that the baulk is a protection. The white is spotted, and the red plays on it ; after that each striker plays upon the ball nearest the upper or outer side of the baulk line ; but if all the balls lie within the baulk line, and the striker s ball be in hand, he must play up to the top cushion, or place his ball on the spot. If his ball be not in hand, he plays at the nearest ball, wherever it may lie.
Black or Everlasting Pool is played by any number of persons in the ordinary way, except that the game is for lives only, without a subscribed stake. After the coloured balls are distributed a black ball is placed on the centre spot. At this the first striker plays. Any player, having pocketed a coloured ball, may play at the black ; and if he succeed in holing it, he receives not only the life he took from the coloured ball, but the value of a life from each player. On the contrary, if he make a losing hazard off the black ball, miss it, or force his own ball oif the table, he pays a life to each player. No ball can be removed to allow the striker to play on the black, but the latter may be removed to allow the striker to play at the proper object-ball. Any person may join the pool at any time, but cannot play in that round ; and he may, on giving notice of his intention, retire at the end of a clear round, until which time his ball remains on the table, and stands its chance with the rest. The price per life is determined, as in the other pool games, previously to commencing ; and it is usual for the marker or leader of the game to notify the conclusion of each clear round.
Skittle Pool is played by any number of persons with three balls, a red and two white, and twelve skittles ten of which are white, and two black. The skittles and balls are arranged, according to a set design, on the table, and the game is played for small stakes deter mined by the number of skittles knocked over, after striking at a ball. It is an amusing, but unscientific game, encumbered with rules which cannot be understood without a diagram.
Penny Pot is the last of the pool games needing notice. It is played as ordinary pool, with the same order of rotation, by any number of players. Instead, however, of subscribing for a pool, and confining each player to three lives, there is no subscribed stake, and the players play on as long as they like, a penny being paid by the owner to the taker of each life ; winning hazards re ceiving, and losing hazards, misses, and coups paying ; each player proceeding in turn as in regular pool.
Much might be written on the scientific principles of the side- stroke, the angles of incidence and reflection, &c. ; but the theories advanced on these topics would lead us farther into the region of mathematics than is necessary for a description of the several games played on the billiard table. The scientific features of billiards are discussed at more or less length in several of the following works : Practical Treatise on the Game of Billiards, by E. White, 1807 (this was partly a translation of a French treatise, published in 1805, and partly a compilation from the article in the Academic Universelle des Jeux, issued in the same year, and since frequently re-edited and reprinted) ; Lt Musee dcs Jeux, Paris, 1820 ; The Noble Game of Billiards, by Monsieur Mingaud, Paris, 1834 ; a translation of the same, by John Thurston, London, 1835 ; Kentfield on Billiards, London, 1839, founded principally on the foregoing works ; Bil liards, Game 500 up, by Edward Russell Mardon, London, 1849 ; Turner On Billiards, a series of diagrams with instructions, Not tingham, 1849 ; The Billiard Book, by Captain Crawley, London, 1866-75 ; Roberts On Billiards, 1868 ; Practical Billiards, by Fred. Hardy, edited by W. Dufton, 1867 ; Billiards, by Joseph Bennett, ex-champion, 1873. There are besides numerous handbooks of more or less value.
(g. f. p.)
belonging to the Dutch, situated between Sumatra and Borneo, in lat. 3 S. and long. 108 E. It is of a circular form, about 50 miles in length by 45 in breadth ; and has an area, according to Melvill van Carnbee, of 2500 square miles. The weather is subject to rapid changes ; but the usual temperature varies from 80 to 87 Fahr. The nights are very cool. The surface in the north is hilly, -Tadjem, the- highest peak, being 3230 feet in height. The sea-coast is inaccessible and surrounded with rocks, and the best harbour is still that at the chief town of Taudjong Padan. The navigation between the island and Borneo is very dangerous. Horses, buffaloes, cattle, sheep and goats, ducks, geese, fowls, and pigeons are the domestic animals of Billiton ; and among its wild animals are deer, goats, jackals, monkeys, civet-cats, tiger-cats, and porcupines. The seas furnish a superabundance of fish. On the rocks along the coast are found tortoises, trepang, and edible birds -nests,
which are articles of export. The forests supply wood of