Indians of almost any age play marbles, and there are many divers ways
of doing this, the rules of which are clearly established by an
unwritten tradition and are strictly adhered to. If a disputed point
arises when a company of boys are playing, an appeal to a senior
bystander is always conclusive. Games between experts are watched with
interest by quite a number of lookers-on, of every age. The Indian
method of shooting a marble is to use the middle finger of the right
hand as a sort of catapult. The marble is held with the left hand
against this finger, and bending it back, it is suddenly let go. The
effect of this is to volley the marble with great force and accuracy.
The English boy's method is tame by comparison. The prevailing
gambling instinct finds scope in this game, because the marbles are
generally kept by the winners, and experts amass great stores. Some
schoolboys, with a money-lender's disposition, make a fortune by
selling marbles cheap to small and inexperienced boys and then
promptly winning them back again.
Spinning tops is an amusement of which the Indian boy never grows
weary, and he only leaves off regretfully because its season comes to
an end. If he has nothing else to do he will be happy spinning his
top, on and off, from morning until nightfall, and naturally grows
skilful in the art, although, if he has no companion, it does not
admit of much variety. His chief exploit is to scoop up the top while
it is still spinning, on to the palm or back of his hand, or on to his
arm. But there are exciting contests, when one boy endeavours to spin
his top with all his force on to the revolving top of an opponent,
because if successfully accomplished the defeated top splits. A
scarred veteran sometimes becomes quite an honoured hero from the
number of its victims.
Some of the tops are of the roughest description, made by the village
carpenter. More finished ones can be bought in the native bazaar for a
farthing. But often a hopelessly disreputable-looking top, with an old
nail for its spike, has a better record for deeds done than a more
showy one bought in a shop. Those that are spun with the view of
splitting their opponent often have, instead of a spike, a flattened
bit of iron like a little chisel, which the boys sharpen on a stone,
and with these they do great execution. Sometimes somebody's foot is
seriously wounded in case of a miss-fire. Now and then, for a change,
a boy will play with a whip-top.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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