Fried at Belief Stakes

[liam stephens]

The following article was published in the Otago Witness 30/09/1882.


The Malays have long been addicted to gambling.
The game of draughts is much played by them, and
in Ceylon they would “ play away the ends of their
fingers, ” over the draught board. Two would sit
down with a fire burning, whereupon was set a pot of
walnut or sesame oil, while beside it lay a small
hatchet with an exceedingly sharp edge. The loser
placed his hand upon a stone, and the winner chopped
off a joint, when the mutilated finger was plunged
into the boiling oil and thereby cauterised. Some
men, fond of the game, but unskilful or unlucky, had
every finger shorn of its tip. We fancy the “ Herd
Laddie ” would prove a dangerous customer amongst
them playing for these stakes.

[Palomino]

Meet the best draughts player I ever met.