THE GAMBLE MAN

Hokitika Guardian, 21 August 1920, Page 4

THE GAMBLE MAN

(By Hilda AI. Love, from ‘Daily Mail.’) SIAM, July 7.

Every morning ho goes to get food for what he playfully calls his children. It is not a pleasant-looking “chow” Beneath the shade of a betel tree h e squats over one of the primitive drains that run by the roadside and scoops the surface of the filthy water for mosquito larvae until his can is full. Back in liis little attap roofed hut lie proceeds to feed his family—a couple of dozen of them —who speedily gobble up the loathsome looking rations. For the larvae gatherer’s ‘‘children” arc lighting fish, little silvery, pink, sprat-like fellows, living solitary lives in whisky bottles. A label bearing the name of the fish is affixed to each small glass home, each bottle being separated from the other by a piece of wood to prevent the occupants from dashing their tiny bodies against the glass in vain attempts to reach their neighbors, for when fighting fish meets fighting fish war is waged with demoniacal fury. Their battles make a popular Siamese sport. A couple of tlio pugilistic little silver darts are slipped from their bottles into a rice bowl round which the onlookers squat to watch and gamble on the fight. Betting is heavy as the match .proceeds, the namo of the favourite fish is shouted excitedly and its tactics applauded while tlic more sober members of tlio crowd shrewdly discuss tlio staying powers and the good and bad fighting points of the combatants at the two tiny furies dart and dash in the bowl, fighting with mouth, fins and tail. Victory often means subsequent death for the winning fish who leaves his rival unconscious and is himself placed back in liis bottle more dead than alive, panting feebly and spasmodically. Often among the fish there is a recognised champion who can take on two or three rivals and still keep the championship. His name is honoured in the lighting fish world, and promising fighters from afar come to give him battle. Tlio “sport” lasts for hours and large sums are won and lost by men and women.

The keeper of the little fishes also participates in what is perhaps the most popular of all Siamese sports, that of kite-flying. ' , Followed by a crowd of admiring friends and youngsters, who Help him carry the huge kite, lie makes bis way over the parched paddy fields to the spot where tlio community gather about four o’clock in the afternoon to watch the events. It is only in the early montUsuof the year that tlio weather makes flying possible. The. kites are of two varieties, male and female, the latter having a long flowing tail, boasting finer lines, and being of lighter build than tlio male, although both are built on a large scale. Points in the contest are intricate, but most strictly enforced, the object being that the male shall bring down the female, with limitations as to the ruses lie may adopt towards her downfall, while the lady is allowed any art or wile to escape capture, and can, moreover, avail herself of any feminine trick to bring down the stronger male. Much depends on the skill of the kite-flying men.

Should the female kite ensnare the male, others of her sex may go on to her assistance in bringing him to earth, whereupon the flier of the fallen one has to endure considerable chaff from the crowd, and much paying out of dingy tical (Is 6d) notes takes place all over the paddy fields.