On the supposition, then, that cards were invented in the East, it seems advisable to first give some account of the cards now used in Hindustan, before entering into any investigation of the period when the game was first brought into Europe. A high antiquity, indeed, no less than a thousand years, is claimed for one of the packs subsequently described; but rejecting t as a pure fiction, which the apparent newness of the cards themselves contradicts, it may be fairly assumed, seeing that in the East customs are slowly changed, that the figures and symbols, or marks, on those cards are, in their forms and signification generally, of at least as early a date as those which are to be found on the oldest European cards.
There is no collection of Hindostanee cards in the Museum of the East India Company; the purveyors, it would seem, not considering them likely to be interesting even to the Lady Proprietors, who, though they have no voice, at least in Leadenhall Street, yet have considerable influence, by their votes, in the choice of Directors. The natives of Hindustan always speak of "the Company" as if, in the abstract, the great body of proprietors were a female,--"Mrs. Company;"[44] and it would appear that the "direction" of things at home, is rapidly approximating to a pure Gynecocracy.[45]
In the Museum of the Royal Asiatic Society, there are three packs of Hindostanee cards, one of them consisting of ten suits, and the other two of eight suits each. In each suit, when complete, the number of cards is twelve; that is two coat cards, or honours, and ten others, whose numerical value is expressed by the number of marks upon them, in a mode similar to that by which English cards, from the ace to the ten, are distinguished by the number of the "pips." The cards of all the packs are circular; the diameter of the largest is 2-3/4 inches, and of the smallest about 2-1/8 inches. The material of which they are formed would appear to be canvas,[46] but so stiffened with varnish, that each single card feels like a piece of wood. All the figures and marks appear to be executed by hand, not printed nor stencilled; each pack is contained in an oblong box, the cards being placed on their edges; and on the top and sides of the box, the marks or emblems of the several suits are depicted. From the style of their execution, I should conclude that card-painting in Hindostan, was a regular profession, though possibly combined with some other, to "make ends meet," just as card-painting was combined with wood-engraving generally, in Germany in the latter part of the fifteenth century; or just as shaving and hair-cutting might, in former times, afford a decent subsistence when eked out with a little surgery, such as blood-letting, tooth-drawing,--"_Quæ prosunt omnibus artes_."