lost on these occasions, wives and children sometimes being gambled for, as the Nepali has the reputation for being an inveterate gamester. Wright states that "one man is said to have cut off his left hand and put it down under a cloth as his stake. On winning the game, he insisted on his opponent cutting off his hand, or else restoring all the money which he had previously won."
At this festival the signal is given by the authorities that the gambling may begin by the firing of a gun. Immediately every occupation is thrown to the winds, the streets are packed with little groups, and the city squares become one mass of excited people, as the entire place is simultaneously strewn with tables of "pice" and cowries. Each house and shop has its gambling party, all earnestly engaged in some form of play, either cards, dice, or "Tommy dod." The card game is generally a kind of three-card trick, European cards are mostly employed, but the old Indian "tash" is not uncommon, the circular papier-mâché article of great antiquity being sometimes seen, but this
