Catalogue of the collection of playing cards bequeathed to the Trustees of the British museum by the late Lady Charlotte Schreiber.

CHIVESE CARDS.

191

CHNS CADS 191
2. Cards derived from Chessmen.
v. Chilmapow (Keemapow) -"Rook, Knight, and Cannon" [Nos.
9-14].
No. 9. Swatow pack, narrow cards curved in middle, faint pattern
on back. Comprises eight each of the first six cards (king, queen, bishop:
rook, knight, cannon) in both white and black, and ten each of the pawns.
No jokers. Total =116.
No. 10. Canton pack of 112 cards and 5 "golds" or jokers, plain
maroon backs (Total =117). In a small box: 4 each of the 7 chessmen
in 4 colours, red and yellow and green and white. (The red and yellow
bear the marks of the black chessmen-shway for king and ping for pawn,
besides slightly altered characters for the other pieces; the green and
white reproduce the names of the white-or red-men, as chiang and tsu for
king and pawn respectively. It may be noted in passing that Chinese
writers on chess, and Chinese makers of chessmen, continually reverse
this arrangement, their only constant object being to keep the pieces of
one side, whether black or white, distinct from those of the other). The
jokers (the Five Blessings) are coloured red.
No. 11. Swatow pack precisely similar to the foregoing, but with
5 white jokers. (Note.-Canton and Swatow are in the same province,
and both are noted for their playing cards. It is often difficult to tell
whether a pack purchased at the one place was not manufactured at the
other.)
No. 12. Foochow pack of 112 cards, similar to Nos. 10 and 11, but
without jokers. Short and thick, white backs.
No. 13. From Swatow. Done up in two half packs, black and red.
Contains 70 cards, viz., 4 each of the king, queen, bishop: rook, knight,
cannon, in red; the same number in black, and 10 each of the red and
of the black pawns; and two jokers. These last are marked kin, or
gold."
No. 14. Foochow pack of 56 cards, viz. 4 each of the 7 red, and as
many of the 7 black, men; no jokers. It is for this pack that the cardholder already spoken of [shown with No. 14] was used, a vexatious
contrivance designed to do away with all the advantages marked cards
afford. This pack, too, is the only one of its kind (so far collected) that
shows "squeezer " signs.
[Note.-In order to guard against misconception it may be as well
to mention here that the object of all Keemapow games is to obtain by
exchange a hand which shall consist entirely of certain simple combinations, viz., quartettes, triplets, or pairs (all of the same sign and colour):
King, Queen, Bishop or Rook, Knight, Cannon (always of the same
colour), and four Pawns (of four different colours). Only in this very
rudimentary sense can there be said to be suits in these games, viz., the
two, or four, colours.]