One, which they
call _balle dans la maison_ (ball in the house), is much the same as
rounders, and there is another game called _camp ruine_, which girls
play at school. There are two sides. A ball is thrown up, and each
side tries to prevent the other catching it. Each player who is
prevented has to join the opposite side or camp, and so on till one
camp is "ruined" by losing all its occupants.
There is a very popular game among Belgian working-men called the _jeu
de balle_. There are five players on each side, who stand on two large
courts marked on the ground. The ball is served by hitting it with the
hand (as at fives) by a player on one side over the line which divides
the courts, and is returned in the same way by a player on the other
side. The ball must not touch the ground, and is taken full pitch. A
point is lost by the side which sends a ball outside the lines of the
court into which it ought to have been served or returned. The points
count fifteen, thirty, forty, and five for the last, which wins the
game.
This is the chief game played by working-men in Belgium. In some
places it seems to be quite unknown, but in others it is very popular.
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