about two dozen pebbles in hand, and the play is in shifting the pebbles from one hole to another. Stanley calls the game an
African " backgammon," and speaks of the board as a "backgammon" tray. The word "mun-gala" is of Arabic origin, derived from " nagal," "to carry from one place to another." There is no apparent interest in the game to the
ordinary
white man's eye, but native players in the compounds and African
negroes generally will keep on moving the little stones for hours at a
time with evident satisfaction, taking up their opponents' pebbles, as
certain combinations occur, until
