In "India, China, and Japan," by Bayard Taylor (page 108), the author says: "This palace of Sheesh Mahal (or Palace of Glass), with its courtyard paved with squares of black and white marble, has an open terrace in front, where is the throne of Akbar, which is a block of black marble about six feet square. It is said that when any one seats themselves on it, blood gushes from a split in the side, and red stains on the surface support this tradition. Opposite the throne is a smaller one of white marble, where the emperor's fool sat and burlesqued his master." This fellow carried a staff of office and conducted the pieces to their positions as indicated by Akbar and his opponent. The game of chess, with living pieces, became a favourite with the Rajahs of India, so many of the courts of different palaces were also arranged for Chess or Parchesi, a game played with pieces, but with less complicated rules than for Chess. Though the court jester was the master of ceremonies, he has not taken his place permanently among the chessmen, although he may be sometimes found among them, notably in a beautiful gold and silver set of men made for one of the kings of Bavaria and now in the Museum at Munich. In this set there are two Jokers, who are placed in front of all the others in the middle of the board as at present arranged, but their value and moves seem not to have been recorded and are now practically unknown. It was at one time supposed that the figures of the chessmen were transferred to pasteboard cards, thus making a masked army instead of one that was on an open field, and that Playing Cards originated in this way; but this theory is no longer tenable. Mr. Wiltshire, in "Playing Cards," derides the idea that they are derived from Chess, saying: "Chess is a game of calculation and combination, and cards are purely chance," which opinion is sustained, for up to this time the history of the two games points to no common derivation. It is claimed that Chess was first played before the walls of Troy, having been invented by Palamedes to amuse the Greeks, who were tired of the monotony of the siege. This is probably one of the first records of games, although it is not certain that the one referred to was Chess any more than that it was a game of cards, which some writers have supposed. In "The Sea Kings of Crete," by Rev. James Baikie, is an account and an illustration of a gaming board just discovered in the palace of Minos, which certainly dates from one thousand four hundred years before Christ, but it resembles a Draught board more than one for Chess.