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Show 208 PERSONAL ADVENTURES N otwitbstanding the skill and adroitness of the dealers, they very often encounter difficult customers, who are equally as cunning as themselves, and who, by a peculiar process kno,vn as "tapping," involve them in heavy losses, even to the extent of the entire capital of the bank. When the dealer is challenged ''to tap," he may decline ; though I never saw it done once. I suppose a refusal implies that there is a doubt respecting the honesty of the play, and it is not considered good policy to refuse. The " tapper" proceeds to stake a sum, equal to the amount in the centre of the table, upon a particular colour, which, if it turn up first, entitles him to sweep away the whole sum. I have seen many banks ex· hausted by this process. When a bank is cleaned out it is said to be "bursted.'' Not unfrequently' one of the bettors aga1·n s t the bank, who may have staked a cons1· d era ble sum if he entertain any suspicion of trickery, ' . will request permission, when the bettmg· cards have been laid out, to deal the remam· der himself; a request rarely refused. It is a IN CALIFORNIA. 209 resource which often turns the tide. I was present, on one occasi?n, when a merchant of the town-an experienced player, from New Orleans-who had been betting to the tune of twenty ounces at a time with unvarying ill-luck, took the dealing into his own hands four times out of five, and not only regained his former losses, but " bursted" the bank. In such a dilemma, the esprit-de-corps amongst the Californian gamesters manifests itself in a manner which-apart from any consideration of morality that may be involved-does them infinite credit, as they never fail to lend to the banks that may chance to have been broken down, or "bursted.'' I saw enough to convince me that, although, if fairly played, monte is strictly a game of chance, it affords far too many facilities for cheating to justify one in risking much at it. Some of the experienced gamblers seemed able to calculate, with a nicety of tact and judgment that surprised me, the succession of suits as they turned up, so as to almost possess a power of staking with a certainty of winning. Indeed, |