The game generally lasts about twenty minutes, although a vigorous assault will sometimes decide it much quicker. If in half an hour neither party conquers, the armies are called to order, ammunition is again equally divided, and the contest renewed. The question of superiority is decided, as in many games of chance, by the best two in three matches. If an army is proved by continued defeat to be worthless, it is disbanded, and a new distribution of soldiers arranged.
THE FULL MOON OF COCOA-NUTS.
In Bombay, when the rainy season is over, the fishermen and their wives and children gather by hundreds to keep a festival which they call "the full moon of cocoa-nuts."
The feast occupies two whole days. The idea which inspires it is that the sea is very powerful. The simple-minded people think they ought to praise it because it gives them their bread, and so as they stand on the shore they beg it to be good to them. They ask it, in caressing words, not to be angry or stormy when their little boats shall go out, and they tell it they hope it will give them plenty of fish.
Not only the fishermen, but owners of boats and ship-builders, and sometimes rich merchants, go to the sea-side to court the favor of grim old Neptune. Every person carries a gift of cocoa-nuts. Wading out into the surf as far as possible, he flings the rough brown fruit into the waves. After the cocoa-nut has been received by the billows, the devout finish by offering a crown of flowers. The waters are covered with beautiful wreaths and garlands, which are given in thankfulness for past favors.
Little does the ocean care for the flowers and the fruit which are poured into its depths. But the festival makes the grave men and women as eager and happy as children, and when they go home, at the end of the second day, they carry with them memories which will make them joyful as long as they think of "the full moon of cocoa-nuts."
GOING TO SPEND THE SUMMER AT THE SEA-SIDE.