even when the Roman gambler used the tali for gambling, he would invoke a god or his mistress before he made his throw.[1] Such implements are now mostly used for play, but, nevertheless, their use for divination was by no means confined to the ancient world, for hucklebones are mentioned in the 17th century among the fortune-telling instruments which young girls divined for husbands with,[2] and Negro sorcerers still throw dice as a means of detecting thieves.[3] Lots serve the two purposes equally well. The Chinese gamble by lots for cash and sweetmeats, whilst they also seriously take omens by solemn appeals to the lots kept ready for the purpose in the temples, and professional diviners sit in the market-places, thus to open the future to their customers.[4] Playing-cards are still in European use for divination. That early sort known as 'tarots' which the French dealer's license to sell 'cartes et tarots' still keeps in mind, is said to be preferred by fortune-tellers to the common kind; for the tarot-pack, with its more numerous and complex figures, lends itself to a greater variety of omens. In these cases, direct history fails to tell us whether the use of the instrument for omen or play came first. In this respect, the history of the Greek 'kottabos' is instructive. This art of divination consisted in flinging wine out of a cup into a metal basin some distance off without spilling any, the thrower saying or thinking his mistress's name, and judging from the clear or dull splash of the wine on the metal what his fortune in love would be; but in time the magic passed out of the process, and it became a mere game of dexterity played for a prize.[5] If this be a typical case, and the rule be relied on that the serious use precedes the playful, then games of chance may be considered survivals in principle or detail from
1 Smith's Dic., art. 'talus.'
2 Brand, 'Popular Antiquities,' vol. ii. p. 412.
3 D. & C. Livingstone, 'Exp. to Zambesi,' p. 51.
4 Doolittle, 'Chinese,' vol. ii. pp. 108, 285-7; see 384; Bastian, 'Oestl. Asien,' vol. iii. pp. 76, 125.
5 Smith's Dic., art. 'cottabos.'
