"The words _Gunjeefu_ and _Tas_ are used in Hindostanee to denote either the game, or a pack of cards. I have in vain searched the 'Asiatic Researches,' 'Asiatic Annual Register,' Sir William Ouseley's 'Oriental Collections,' and the 'Oriental Repertory,' by Dalrymple, for some account or description of the mode of playing the cards in use among the natives of Hindostan; and further, from the total silence of the French and English Encyclopædias, conclude that they have never engaged the attention of any inquirer. A description of the gunjeefu, or cards, used by the Moslems, may therefore be acceptable to our readers. "In the 'Dictionary, Hindostanee and English,' edited by the late Dr. Hunter, the names of the eight suits are to be found under the word _Taj_, the name of the first suit. "The pack is composed of ninety-six cards, divided into eight suits. In each suit are two court cards, the King, and the Wuzeer. The common cards, like those of Europe, bear the spots from which the suits are named, and are ten in number. "Four suits are named superior,[52] and four the inferior[53] suits. SUPERIOR SUITS. INFERIOR SUITS. Taj.[54] Chung. Soofed. Soorkh. Shumsher. Burat. Gholam. Quimash. "Plate I represents the [honours of the] four superior suits, called _Beshbur_; and Plate II, the inferior, _Kumbur_. The kings are easily distinguished, and are here numbered from 1 to 8. [Illustration: Plate I.] [Illustration: Plate II.] "In the superior suits, the ten follows next in value to the king and wuzeer; and the ace is the lowest card. In the inferior suits, the ace has precedence immediately after the wuzeer, then the deuce, and others in succession, the ten being of least value. "The game is played by three or six persons: when six play, three take the superior, and three the inferior suits. The pack being divided into parcels after the cards are well mixed, the players cut for the deal; and he who cuts the highest card deals.[55] When three play, the cards are dealt by fours. In the first and last round the cards are exposed, and thus eight cards of each person's hand are known to the adversaries. The cards are dealt from _right_ to _left_, the reverse of the European mode. "THE LEAD. When the game is played by _day_, he who holds the red king, (_Soorkh_, the sun,) must lead that and any small card. Should he play the king alone, it is seized by the next player. The adversaries throw down each _two_ common cards, and the trick is taken up. When the game is played by _night_, the white king, (_Soofed_, the moon,) is led in like manner. The cards are then played out at the option of him who leads, the adversaries throwing away their small cards, and no attention is paid to the following suit, unless when one of the adversaries, having a superior card of the suit led, chooses to play it to gain the trick.