CASHMERE.
The cards from Cashmere, which belong to Mr. de Forest and are reproduced for this work, differ but slightly from those described by Mr. Chatto. The Cashmere cards are circular in shape, as well as the Hindostanee, and are of about the same size, being two inches in diameter. The emblems on the Cashmere cards differ considerably from those described by Mr. Chatto, and only the court or figure cards bear a general resemblance to those that formerly belonged to Capt. D. Cromline Smith.
The Cashmere cards seem to be made of thin slices of wood, overlaid with a composition of some sort, and so thickly covered with paint and varnish that the original material is entirely concealed. This pack contains thirty-six cards of three suits; namely, ten pip and two court cards in each suit. A large purple flower on a red ground, placed within circles of yellow, ornaments the backs, which are probably intended to be precisely the same; but to an experienced gamester there would be no difficulty in distinguishing one card from another, even with the face of it concealed, as the design, though uniform, differs slightly on each card.
The three suits are not only marked by the emblems of pips, but, like the Hindostanee cards, the backgrounds are vividly painted in some uniform colour upon which the design is displayed, and this colour marks the suits distinctly even when the emblem is omitted, which in some cases is done either by design or accident. The white suit is headed by a King mounted on an elephant, and a Vizir on a bull. There are no emblems on these two cards by which to distinguish the suit. The ten pip cards show tiny figures of men clothed in loosely fitting red garments and wearing red turbans on their heads. These figures are represented kneeling, with their hands clasped in the attitude of prayer. They are dotted over the surface of the cards and grouped as the corresponding pips are in the other suits, and generally face each other, except in number eight, in which all the figures look the same way and to the left side. Another suit is distinguished by a dark-blue ground, on which small yellow disks, surrounded by circles of red, are painted. This suit may correspond with a “moon” suit mentioned by Mr. Chatto among the Hindostanee cards, and it is also noticeable as it closely resembles the “money” used as an emblem on Italian and Spanish cards. The court cards of this suit show a man mounted on a tiger and bearing the distinctive emblem uplifted in his right hand. The position of this man is closely copied on the Spanish cards, although in them he is represented on horseback. The second honour shows two tigers seated on a cross-legged bench gazing over their shoulders at two attendants, who wave what appear to be staves or fans. Between these tigers is a large “moon-face,” which seems to mark the suit. If this be the case, it would point to the origin of the money emblem. The pips on the rest of the suit are carelessly executed circles, and the features, which would show it to be intended for the moon, are omitted. The outline of this mark may have been followed on the cards that were first introduced into Europe, and may readily have become changed during the lapse of years. The “moon” mark on the Hindostanee cards has gradually extended both East and West, one that closely resembles it being found on the Chinese cards, and partly followed on the wooden cubes of the Alaska Indians.
Plate 6.
The green suit bears emblems which recall the carreaux of the French cards, and are even more like one of the marks used by the Apache tribe of North American Indians by which to distinguish one of their suits. The diamond-shaped pip on the Cashmere cards is painted red and ornamented with stripes and dots of pink. The court cards show a Vizir on a white horse, bearing the pip in his right hand, and a Sultan attended by two slaves, who also carries the emblem of the suit.
These cards show little marks of use, and their surface is slightly sticky, so that they could not be conveniently either shuffled or dealt. It is probable that the pack is not complete, and that there should be more than the three suits that now compose it.