SOLUTIONS
and can never be captured. The fact is, curious as it must at first
sight appear, a Dutchman cannot catch a black hog, and a Dutch-
woman can never capture a white one ! But each can, without
difficulty, catch one of the other colour.
So if the first player just determines that he will send Hendrick
after the white porker and Katriin after the black one, he will have
no difficulty whatever in securing both in a very few moves.
It is, in fact, so easy that there is no necessity whatever to give
the line of play. We thus, by'means of the game, solve the puzzle
in real life, why the Dutchman and his wife could not catch their
pigs : in their simplicity and ignorance of the peculiarities of Dutch
hogs, each went after the wrong animal.
79.—
The Thirty-one Game.
By leading with a 5 the first player can always win. If your
opponent plays another 5, you play a 2 and score 12. Then
as often as he plays a 5 you play a 2, and if at any stage he drops
out of the series, 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, you step in and win. If, after
your lead of 5, he plays anything but another 5, you make 10 or 17,
and win. The first player may also win by leading a 1, but the play is
complicated. It is, however, well worth the reader's study.
80.—
The Chinese Railways.
This puzzle was artfully
devised by the yellow man.
It is not a matter for wonder
that the representatives of
the five countries interested
were bewildered. It would
have puzzled the engineers
a good deal to construct
those circuitous routes so
that the various trains might
run with safety. The illustration shows the required directions for
the five systems of lines, so that no line shall ever cross another.
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