INDIAN GAMES

AN HISTORICAL RESEARCH

BY ANDREW McFARLAND DAVIS

"There are, " says Father Brebeuf in his account of what was worthy ofnote among the Hurons in 1636, [Footnote: Relations des Jesuites, Quebec, 1858, p. 113. ] "three kinds of games particularly in vogue withthis people; cross, platter, and straw. The first two are, they say, supreme for the health. Does not that excite our pity? Lo, a poor sickperson, whose body is hot with fever, whose soul foresees the end ofhis days, and a miserable sorcerer orders for him as the only coolingremedy, a game of cross. Sometimes it is the invalid himself who mayperhaps have dreamed that he will die unless the country engages in agame of cross for his health. Then, if he has ever so little credit, you will see those who can best play at cross arrayed, village againstvillage, in a beautiful field, and to increase the excitement, theywill wager with each other their beaver skins and their necklaces ofporcelain beads. "

"Sometimes also one of their medicine men will say that the wholecountry is ill and that a game of cross is needed for its cure. It isnot necessary to say more. The news incontinently spreads everywhere. The chiefs in each village give orders that all the youths shall dotheir duty in this respect, otherwise some great calamity will overtakethe country. "

LACROSSE. 

In 1667, Nicolas Perrot, then acting as agent of the French government, was received near Saut Sainte Marie with stately courtesy and formalceremony by the Miamis, to whom he was deputed. A few days after hisarrival, the chief of that nation gave him, as an entertainment, a gameof lacrosse. [Footnote: Histoire de l'Amerique Septentrionale par M. DeBacqueville de la Potherie, Paris, 1722, Vol. II, 124, _et seq. _]"More than two thousand persons assembled in a great plain each withhis cross. A wooden ball about the size of a tennis ball was tossed inthe air. From that moment there was a constant movement of all thesecrosses which made a noise like that of arms which one hears during abattle. Half the savages tried to send the ball to the northwest thelength of the field, the others wished to make it go to the southeast. The contest which lasted for a half hour was doubtful. "

In 1763, an army of confederate nations, inspired by the subtleinfluence of Pontiac's master mind, formed the purpose of seizingthe scattered forts held by the English along the northwesternfrontier. On the fourth day of June of that year, the garrison at FortMichilimackinac, unconscious of their impending fate, thoughtlesslylolled at the foot of the palisade and whiled away the day in watchingthe swaying fortunes of a game of ball which was being played by someIndians in front of the stockade. Alexander Henry, who was on the spotat the time, says that the game played by these Indians was "Baggatiway, called by the Canadians _le jeu de la Crosse. _" [Footnote: Travels andAdventures in Canada, etc, by Alexander Henry, New York, 1809, p. 78, Travels through the Interior parts of North America, by Jonathan Carver, London, 1778, p. 19. The Book of the Indians, by Samuel G. Drake, Boston, 1811, Book V, Ch. III, p. 52. ]

Parkman [Footnote: The Conspiracy of Pontiac, by Francis Parkman, Boston, 1870, Vol. 1, p. 339. ] concludes a vivid description of thesurprise and massacre of the garrison at Michilimackinac, based uponauthentic facts, as follows: "Bushing and striking, tripping theiradversaries, or hurling them to the ground, they pursued the animatingcontest amid the laughter and applause of the spectators. Suddenly, from the midst of the multitude, the ball soared into the air and, descending in a wide curve, fell near the pickets of the fort. This wasno chance stroke. It was part of a preconcerted scheme to insure thesurprise and destruction of the garrison. As if in pursuit of the ball, the players turned and came rushing, a maddened and tumultuous throng, towards the gate. In a moment they had reached it. The amazed Englishhad no time to think or act. The shrill cries of the ball-players werechanged to the ferocious war-whoop. The warriors snatched from thesquaws the hatchets which the latter, with this design, had concealedbeneath their blankets. Some of the Indians assailed the spectatorswithout, while others rushed into the fort, and all was carnage andconfusion. "

Thus we see that the favorite game of ball of the North AmericanIndians, known to-day, as it was in 1636, by the name of "lacrosse, "was potent among them as a remedial exercise or superstitious rite tocure diseases and avert disaster; that it formed part of statelyceremonials which were intended to entertain and amuse distinguishedguests; and that it was made use of as a stratagem of war, by means ofwhich to lull the suspicions of the enemy and to gain access to theirforts. 

The descriptions of lacrosse which have been transmitted to us, wouldoften prove unintelligible to one who had never seen the game played. The writers of the accounts which have come down to us from the earlypart of the seventeenth century were men whose lives were spent amongthe scenes which they described and they had but little time, and fewopportunities for careful writing. The individual records thoughsomewhat confused enable us easily to identify the game, and acomparison of the different accounts shows how thoroughly the mainfeatures of the game have been preserved. 

Lacrosse is played to-day as follows: The number of players on theopposing sides should be equal. Regular stations are assigned in therules for playing the game, for twelve on each side. Goals, eachconsisting of two upright posts or staffs, generally about six feetapart and of equal height, are planted at each end of the field. Thelength of the field and its bounds are determined by the character ofthe ground and the skill of the players. The effort of each side is toprevent the ball from passing through the goal assigned to itsprotection, and equally to try to drive it through the opposite goal. Under no circumstances can the ball be touched during the game, whilewithin the bounds, by the hands of the players. Each player has aracket, the length of which, though optional, is ordinarily from fourto five feet. One end of this racket or bat is curved like a shepherd'scrook, and from the curved end a thong is carried across to a point onthe handle about midway its length. In the space thus enclosed betweenthe thong and the handle, which at its broadest part should not exceeda foot in width, a flat network is interposed. This forms the bat. Itis with this that the player picks up and throws the ball used in thegame, which should be about eight or nine inches in circumference. Theball is placed in the centre of the field by the umpire, and when thegame is called, the opposing players strive to get possession of itwith their rackets. The play consists in running with it and throwingit, with the design of driving it between the adversary's goal posts;and in defensive action, the purpose of which is to prevent theopponents from accomplishing similar designs on their part. As the windor the sunlight may favor one side or the other on any field, provisionis generally made for a change of goals during the match. The stationsof the players and the minor rules of the game are unimportant in thisconnection. 

The oldest attempt at a detailed description of the game is given byNicolas Perrot who from 1662 to 1699 spent the greater part of his timeas _coureur de bois_, trader, or government agent, among the Indians ofthe far West. It is of him that Abbe Ferland says, "Courageous man, honest writer and good observer, Perrot lived for a long time among theIndians of the West who were very much attached to him. " His accounts ofthe manners and customs of the North American Indians have beenliberally used by subsequent writers and as the part treating of gamesis not only very full but also covers a very early period of history, itis doubly interesting for purposes of comparison with games of a laterday. He [Footnote: Memoire sur les Moeurs, Coustumes et Relligion desSauvages de l'Amerique Septentrionale, par Nicolas Perrot, Leipzig etParis, 1864, p. 43, _et seq. _] says, "The savages have many kinds ofgames in which they delight. Their natural fondness for them is so greatthat they will neglect food and drink, not only to join in a game buteven to look at one. There is among them a certain game of cross whichis very similar to our tennis. Their custom in playing it is to matchtribe against tribe, and if the numbers are not equal they render themso by withdrawing some of the men from the stronger side. You see themall armed with a cross, that is to say a stick which has a large portionat the bottom, laced like a racket. The ball with which they play is ofwood and of nearly the shape of a turkey's egg. The goals of the gameare fixed in an open field. These goals face to the east and to thewest, to the north and to the south. " Then follows a somewhat confuseddescription of the method and the rules of the contest from which we caninfer that after a side had won two goals they changed sides of thefield with their opponents, and that two out of three, or three out offive goals decided the game. 

Reading Perrot's description in connection with that given by de laPotherie of the game played before Perrot by the Miamis, helps us toremove the confusion of the account. Abbe Ferlande [Footnote: Coursd'Histoire du Canada, par J. B. Ferland, Quebec, 1861, Vol. I, p. 134. ]describes the game. He was a diligent student of all sources ofauthority upon these subjects and was probably familiar with the moderngame. His account of the Indian game follows that of Perrot so closelyas to show that it was his model. It is, however, clear and distinct inits details, free from the confusion which attends Perrot's account andmight almost serve for a description of the game as played by theIndians to-day. Perrot was a frontier-man and failed when he undertookto describe anything that required careful and exact use of language. We can only interpret him intelligently by combining his descriptionswith those of other writers and applying our own knowledge of the gameas we see it to-day. He is, however, more intelligible when he gets onmore general ground, and after having disposed of the technicalities ofthe game, he proceeds: "Men, women, boys and girls are received on thesides which they make up, and they wager between themselves more orless according to their means. "

"These games ordinarily begin after the melting of the ice and theylast even to seed time. In the afternoon one sees all the playersbedecked [Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote (1) relocated to chapterend. ] and painted. Each party has its leader who addresses them, announcing to his players the hour fixed for opening the game. Theplayers assemble in a crowd in the middle of the field and one of theleaders of the two sides, having the ball in his hands casts it intothe air. Each one then tries to throw it towards the side where heought to send it. If it falls to the earth, the player tries to draw itto him with his cross. If it is sent outside the crowd, then the mostactive players, by closely pursuing it, distinguish themselves. Youhear the noise which they make striking against each other and wardingoff blows, in their strife to send the ball in the desired direction. When one of them holds the ball between his feet, it is for him, in hisunwillingness to let it go, to avoid the blows which his adversariesincessantly shower down upon his feet. Should he happen to be woundedat this juncture, he alone is responsible for it. It has happened thatsome have had their legs broken, others their arms and some have beenkilled. It is not uncommon to see among them those who are crippled forlife and who could only be at such a game by an act of sheer obstinacy. When accidents of this kind happen, the unfortunate withdraws quietlyfrom the game if he can do so. If his injury will not permit him, hisrelations carry him to the cabin and the game continues until it isfinished as if nothing bad happened. "

"When the sides are equal the players will occupy an entire afternoonwithout either side gaining any advantage; at other times one of thetwo will gain the two games that they need to win. In this game youwould say to see them run that they looked like two parties who wantedto fight. This exercise contributes much to render the savages alertand prepared to avoid blows from the tomahawk of an enemy, when theyfind themselves in a combat. Without being told in advance that it wasa game, one might truly believe that they fought in open country. Whatever accident the game may cause, they attribute it to the chanceof the game and have no ill will towards each other. The suffering isfor the wounded, who bear it contentedly as if nothing had happened, thus making it appear that they have a great deal of courage and aremen. "

"The side that wins takes whatever has been put up on the game andwhatever there is of profit, and that without any dispute on the partof the others when it is a question of paying, no matter what the kindof game. Nevertheless, if some person who is not in the game, or whohas not bet anything, should throw the ball to the advantage of oneside or the other, one of those whom the throw would not help wouldattack him, demanding if this is his affair and why he has mixedhimself with it. They often come to quarrel about this and if some ofthe chiefs did not reconcile them, there would be blood shed andperhaps some killed. "

Originally, the game was open to any number of competitors. Accordingto the Relation of 1636, "Village was pitted against village. " "Tribewas matched against tribe, " says Perrot. The number engaged in the gamedescribed by La Potherie [Footnote: Vol. II, p. 126. ] was estimated byhim at two thousand. LaHontan [Footnote: Memoires de L'AmeriqueSeptentrionale, ou la Suite des Voyages de Mr. Le Baron de LaHontan, Amsterdam, 1705, Vol. II, p. 113. ] says that "the savages commonlyplayed it in large companies of three or four hundred at a time, " whileCharlevoix [Footnote: Histoire de la Nouvelle France. Journal d'unVoyage. Etc, par le P. De Charlevoix, Paris, 1744, Vol. III, p. 319. ]says the number of players was variable and adds "for instance if theyare eighty, " thus showing about the number he would expect to find in agame. When Morgan [Footnote: League of the Iroquois, by Lewis H. Morgan, Rochester, 1851, p. 294. ] speaks of six or eight on a side, hemust allude to a later period, probably after the game was modified bythe whites who had adopted it among their amusements. [Transcriber'sNote: Lengthy footnote (2) relocated to chapter end. ]

Our earliest accounts of the game as played by the Indians in the southare about one hundred years later than the corresponding records in thenorth. Adair [Footnote: The History of the American Indians, particularly those Nations adjoining to the Mississippi, etc, by JamesAdam, London, 1775, p. 399. ] says the gamesters are equal in number andspeaks of "the crowd of players" preventing the one who "catches theball from throwing it off with a long direction. " Bossu [Footnote:Travels through that Part of North America formerly called Louisiana, by Mr. Bossu, Captain in the French Marines. Translated from the Frenchby John Hemhold Forster, London, 1771, Vol. I, p. 304. ] says, "they areforty on each side, " while Bartram [Footnote: Travels through North andSouth Carolina, etc. , by William Bartram, Philadelphia, 1701, p. 508. ]says, "the inhabitants of one town play against another in consequenceof a challenge. " From this it would seem that among those Indians, asat the North, the number of players was governed only by thecircumstances under which the game was played. 

The ball, originally of wood, [Footnote: La Potherie, Vol. II, p. 126;Perrot, p. 44. ] was replaced by one made of deer skin. Adair gives thefollowing description of its manufacture: "The ball is made of a pieceof scraped deerskin, moistened, and stuffed hard with deer's hair, andstrongly sewed with deer's sinews. " [Footnote: p. 400. ]

According to Morgan the racket has undergone a similar change, from acurved wooden head to the curved stick with open network, but we haveseen in the earliest description at our command, that in the days ofPerrot the cross was "laced like a racket. " [Footnote: League of theIroquois. P. 298; Perrot p. 44. ]

The game was played not only by the Indians of our Coast, but Powers[Footnote: Contributions to North American Ethnology, Vol. III, p. 151. Tribes of California by Stephen Powers; The same game is describedamong the Meewocs in The Native Races of the Pacific States by H. H. Bancroft, Vol. I, p. 393. ] found it also among the Californian Indians. He describes a game of tennis played by the Pomo Indians in RussianRiver Valley, of which he had heard nothing among the northern tribes. "A ball is rounded out of an oak knot as large as those used by schoolboys, and it is propelled by a racket which is constructed of a longslender stick, bent double and bound together, leaving a circular hoopat the extremity, across which is woven a coarse meshwork of strings. Such an implement is not strong enough for batting the ball, neither dothey bat it, but simply shove or thrust it along the ground. "

Paul Kane [Footnote: Wanderings of an Artist among the Indians of NorthAmerica by Paul Kane, p. 190; H. H. Bancroft's Native Races, Vol. I, p. 244. ] describes a game played among the Chinooks. He says "They alsotake great delight in a game with a ball which is played by them in thesame manner as the Cree, Chippewa and Sioux Indians. Two poles areerected about a mile apart, and the company is divided into two bandsarmed with sticks, having a small ring or hoop at the end with whichthe ball is picked up and thrown to a great distance, each partystriving to get the ball past their own goal. They are sometimes ahundred on a side, and their play is kept up with great noise andexcitement. At this play they bet heavily as it is generally playedbetween tribes or villages. "

Domenech [Footnote: Seven Years' Residence in the Great Deserts ofNorth America by the Abbe Em. Domenech, Vol. II, pp. 192, 193. ] writingabout the Indians of the interior, calls the game "cricket, " and saysthe players were costumed as follows: "Short drawers, or rather a belt, the body being first daubed over with a layer of bright colors; fromthe belt (which is short enough to leave the thighs free) hangs a longtail, tied up at the extremity with long horse hair; round their necksis a necklace, to which is attached a floating mane, dyed red, as isthe tail, and falling in the way of a dress fringe over the chest andshoulders. In the northwest, in the costume indispensable to theplayers, feathers are sometimes substituted for horse hair. " He adds"that some tribes play with two sticks" and that it is played in"winter on the ice. " "The ball is made of wood or brick covered withkid-skin leather, sometimes of leather curiously interwoven. "Schoolcraft describes the game as played in the winter on the ice. [Footnote: Schoolcraft's North American Indians, Vol. II, p. 78. Seealso Ball-play among the Dicotis, in Philander Prescott's paper, Ibid, Vol. IV, p. 64. ]

It will be observed that the widest difference prevails in the estimateof the distance apart at which the goals are set. Henry, in his accountof the game at Michilimackinac says "they are at a considerabledistance from each other, as a mile or more. " Charlevoix places thegoals in a game with eighty players at "half a league apart" meaningprobably half a mile. LaHontan estimates the distance between the goalsat "five or six hundred paces. " Adair, [Footnote: Henry, p. 78Chulevoix Vol. III, p. 319, Kane's Wanderings, p. 189, LaHontan, Vol. II, p. 113; Adair, p. 400. ] who is an intelligent writer, and who wasthoroughly conversant with the habits and customs of the Cherokees, Choctaws, and Chicasaws estimates the length of the field at "fivehundred yards, " while Romans [Footnote: A concise Natural History ofEast and West Florida, by Capt Bernard Romans New York, 1770, p. 79. ]in describing the goals uses this phrase "they fix two poles acrosseach other at about a hundred and fifty feet apart. " Bossu [Footnote:Vol. I, p. 104 Similarly, Pickett (History of Alabama, Vol. I, p. 92)describes a game among the Creeks in which there was but one goalconsisting of two poles erected in the centre of the field betweenwhich the ball must pass to count one. He cites "Butram, " and the"Narrative of a Mission to the Creek Nation by Col. Mammus Willet, " ishis authorities neither of them sustains him on this point. ] speaks asif in the game which he saw played there was but a single goal. He says"They agree upon a mark or aim about sixty yards off, and distinguishedby two great poles, between which the ball is to pass. "

The goals among the northern Indians were single posts at the ends ofthe field. It is among the southern Indians that we first hear of twoposts being raised to form a sort of gate through or over which thebull must pass. Adair says, "they fix two bending poles into theground, three yards apart below, but slanting a considerable wayoutwards. " The party that happens to throw the ball "over these countsone; but if it be thrown underneath, it is cast back and played for asusual. " The ball is to be thrown "through the lower part" of the twopoles which are fixed across each other at about one hundred and fiftyfeet apart, according to Romans. In Bossu's account it is "between" thetwo great poles which distinguish the mark or aim, that "the ball is topass. " On the other hand, Bartram, describing what he saw in NorthCarolina, speaks of the ball "being hurled into the air, midway betweenthe two high pillars which are the goals, and the party who bears offthe ball to their pillar wins the game. "

In some parts of the south each player had two rackets between whichthe ball was caught. For this purpose they were necessarily shorterthan the cross of the northern Indians. Adair says, "The ball sticksare about two feet long, the lower end somewhat resembling the palm ofa hand, and which are worked with deer-skin thongs. Between these theycatch the ball, and throw it a great distance. " [Footnote: Adair, p. 400; A Narrative of the Military Adventures of Colonel Marinus Willett, p. 109. ]

That this was not universal throughout the south would appear fromBossu's account who says, "Every one has a battle-door in his handabout two feet and a half long, made very nearly in the form of ours, of walnut, or chestnut wood, and covered with roe-skins. " Bartram alsosays that each person has "a racquet or hurl, which is an implement ofa very curious construction somewhat resembling a ladle or little hoopnet, with a handle near three feet in length, the hoop and handle ofwood and the netting of thongs of raw-hide or tendons of an animal. "

Catlin [Footnote: Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs andCondition of the North American Indians, by George Catlin, Vol. II, p. 123 _et seq. _] saw the game played by the Choctaws, on their WesternReservation. They used two rackets. In this game the old men acted asjudges. 

The game was ordinarily started by tossing the ball into the air in thecentre of the field. This act is represented by Perrot as having beenperformed by one of the leaders in the game, but it is more in accordwith the spirit in which the game was played, that it should have beendone by some outsider. Bossu says, "An old man stands in the middle ofthe place appropriated to the play, and throws up into the air a ballof roe-skins rolled about each other, " while Powers [Footnote:Contributions to North American Ethnology, Vol. III, p. 151. ] says thatamong the Californian Indians this act was performed by a squaw. Thejudges started the ball among the Choctaws. [Footnote: Cuthu, Vol. II, p. 12. ] Notwithstanding the differences in the forms of the goals, their distance apart and the methods of play disclosed in all thesedescriptions, the game can only be regarded as the same. The historianswho have preserved for us the accounts of the ancient southern gamesfrom which quotations have been made, are all Englishmen except Bossu, and he entered the country not by the way of Quebec but by way of NewOrleans. It is not strange, therefore, that we do not find in useamongst them the name which the early French fathers and tradersinvariably applied to the game. The description, however, given bythese writers, of the racket used in the south, corresponds so closelywith the crook from which the game took the name by which it is known, that we must accept the game as a modified form of lacrosse. From Maineto Florida, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, we trace a knowledge ofit. We have found it in use among the confederate nations of the northand of the south and among scattered tribes throughout the country. 

In the majority of instances the natural instincts of those whoparticipated in the strife were stimulated by local pride. Thereputation of their tribe or their village rested upon the result. Ardent as the spirit of the contest must necessarily have been undersuch circumstances, among a people where courage and physique countedfor so much, their intense passion for gambling intervened to fan intofiercer flames the spirits of the contesting players and to inspire themto more earnest efforts. Stakes, often of the utmost consequence to theplayers and their backers, were wagered upon the games. A reputation forcourage, for skill and for endurance, was the most valuable possessionof the Indian. The maintenance of this was to a certain extent involvedin each game that he played. Oftentimes in addition to this, all of hisown possessions and the property of his friends and neighbors in theform of skins and beads were staked upon the result of the contest. Ingames where so much was involved, we need not be surprised to learn fromPerrot that limbs were occasionally broken and that sometimes playerswere even killed. In the notes to Perrot's Memoir it is stated that someanonymous annotator has written across the margin of Perrot's manuscriptat this point: [Footnote: Perrot. Note 1, Ch. X. P. 187. ] "False, neither arms nor legs are broken, nor are players ever killed. " Wescarcely need the corroboratory statements of La Potherie [Footnote:Vol. II, pp. 126-137. ] that "these games are ordinarily followed bybroken heads, arms and legs, and often people are killed at them;" andalso of LaHontan, [Footnote: Vol. II, p. 113. ] that "they tear theirskins and break their legs" at them, to satisfy us that Perrot ratherthan his critic is to be believed. If no such statements had been made, we should infer that so violent a game, on which stakes of such vitalimportance were placed, could not be played by a people like theIndians, except with such results. Notwithstanding the violence of thegame and the deep interest which the players and spectators took in it, the testimony of historians is uniform to the effect that accidentalinjuries received during its progress produced no ill will. We have seenthat Perrot states that if anyone attempted to hold the ball with _hisfeet_, he took his chance of injury, and that those who were injuredretired quietly from the field. Adair says, "It is a very unusual thingto see them act spitefully, not even in this severe and temptingexercise. " Bossu bears testimony to the same effect, in the followingwords: "The players are never displeased; some old men, who assist atthe play, become mediators, and determine that the play is only intendedas a recreation, and not as an opportunity of quarrelling. "

Where the game was played by appointment in response to a challenge, the men and women assembled in their best ornaments, and danced andsang during the day and night previous to that of the appointed day. The players supplicated the Great Spirit for success. Female relationschanted to him all the previous night and the men fasted from theprevious night till the game was over. [Footnote: Adair, p. 401, Bossu, Vol. I, p. 306, and Willet's Narrative, p. 109. ] The players wore butlittle in the way of covering. Romans speaks of them as being "almostnaked, painted and ornamented with feathers;" and Bossu says they were"naked, painted with various colours, having a tyger tail fastenedbehind, and feathers on their heads and arms. "

It is not astonishing that a game which called for such vigorousexorcise [Footnote: Ferdinand Vol. I, p. 134, and Major C. Swan in aReport concerning the Creeks in 1791. Schoolcraft, Vol. V, p. 277, thatthe Whites exceed the Indians at this game. ] and which taxed thestrength, agility and endurance of the players to such a degree, shouldbe described by writers in terms which showed that they looked upon itrather in the light of a manly contest than as an amusement. Nevertheless the young people and the women often took part in it. Perrot tells us so, and both Romans and Bossu say that after the menwere through, the women usually played a game, the bets on which weregenerally high. Powers [Footnote: Contributions to North AmericanEthnology, Vol. In, p. 151. ] represents the squaws among theCalifornian Indians as joining the game. 

Dexterity in the game lay in the skilful use of the racket; in rapidrunning; in waylaying an adversary when he was in possession of theball; in avoiding members of the opposing side when the player himselfwas running with the ball for the goal, and in adroitly passing theball to one of the same side when surrounded by opponents. To give fullscope to skill in the use of the racket, great stress was laid upon therule that the ball was not to be touched by the hand. Perrot says, "ifit falls to the earth he tries to draw it to him with his cross. "Charlevoix says, "Their business is to strike the ball to the post ofthe adverse party without letting it fall to the ground and withouttouching it with the hand. " Adair says, "They are not allowed to catchit with their hands. "

The early writers were struck with the fact that the character of theexercise in this game was fitted to develop the young warriors for thewar path, and they commented on the practice that they thus acquired inrapid running and in avoiding blows from an instrument in the hands ofan adversary. 

"When we review the various features of the game which its chroniclershave thought worthy of record, we can but conclude that it was rather acontest of grave importance to the players than a mere pastime, nor canwe fail to accept the concurrent testimony as to the widespreadterritory in which it was domesticated, as additional evidence of theextent of the intercourse which prevailed among the native tribes ofthis country. "

[Relocated Footnote (1): I translate _apiffez_, "bedecked, " assumingfrom the context that the author meant to write "_attifez_. " We have, elsewhere, accounts which show that ballplayers, even though compelledto play with scant clothing, still covered themselves with theirornaments. J. M. Stanley in his Portraits of North American Indians, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Washington, 1862, Vol. II, p. 13, says that the "Creek" ball-players first appear on the ground incostume. "During the play they divest themselves of all their ornamentswhich are usually displayed on these occasions for the purpose ofbetting on the result of the play. "]

[Relocated Footnote (2): The game is also mentioned in An Account of theRemarkable Occurrences in the Life and Travels of Col. James Smithduring his Captivity with the Indians in the years 1755-1759. Cincinnati, 1870, p. 78. It is described by Col. William L. Stone in hisLife of Brant, Albany, 1865, Vol. II, p. 448. In one game of which hespeaks, the ball was started by a young and beautiful squaw who waselaborately dressed for the occasion. Notwithstanding the extent andvalue of Col. Stone's contributions to the literature on the subject ofthe North American Indians, he makes the erroneous statement that "TheSix Nations had adopted from the Whites the popular game of ball orcricket" See p. 445, same volume, _cf_. The Memoir upon the late War inNorth America, 1755-1760, by M. Pouchot, translated and edited byFranklin B. Hough, Vol. II, p. 195. A game of ball is also described inHistorical Collections of Georgia, by the Rev. George White, 3d edition, New York, 1835, p. 670, which took place in Walker County, Georgia, between Chatooga and Chicamauga. The ball was thrown up at the centre. The bats were described as curiously carved spoons. If the ball touchedthe ground the play stopped and it was thrown up again. Rev. J. OwenDorsey in a paper entitled "Omaha Sociology, " printed in the ThirdAnnual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, etc, 1881-1882, Washington, 1884 p. 230, p. 336, describes the game amongst the Omahas. ]

PLATTER OR DICE. 

The second in the list of games given by Father Brebeuf is that whichhe calls "platter. " Writers who describe the habits of the Indians atthe north have much to say concerning this game. According toLescarbot, Jacques Cartier saw it played, and recorded hisobservations. [Footnote: Histoire de la Nouvelle France par MarcLescarbot, Nouvelle Edition, Paris 1856, Vol. III, p. 734. ]

Sagard Theodat [Footnote: Histoire du Canada, etc. , par Gabriel SagardTheodat; Nouvelle Edition, Paris, 1856, Vol. I, pp. 243-244. ] devotesconsiderable space to it. Both Father Brebeuf, in his Relation in 1636, and Father Lalemant, in his Relation in 1639, give long accounts of thegame, the causes for its being played, the excesses in gambling towhich it leads, and the methods which prevail in its practice. InPerrot's [Footnote: p. 50. ] work there is a good description of thegame, although not so full as his account of lacrosse, from which wehave already quoted. La Potherie and LaHontan barely mention it. Latitau [Footnote: Mours des Sauvages Ameriquains, erc, par le P. Latitau, Paris, 1724, Vol. II, p. 339. ] in his searching analysis ofthe manuscripts deposited at Quebec, while seeking for traces of histheory that a resemblance existed between the habits of the Indians andthose of the ancient dwellers in eastern Europe, found an unusualquantity of material bearing on this particular topic, which he hasreproduced in his book. Charlevoix [Footnote: Vol. III, pp. 260-1. ], ina letter dated June 8, 1721, says, "As I was returning through aquarter of the Huron village, I perceived a number of these Indians, who seemed much heated at play. I approached them and found that thegame they were playing at was what they called the game of platter. This is the game to which the Indians are addicted above all others. They sometimes lose their rest and in some degree their very senses atit. They stake all they are worth, and several of them have been knownto continue at it till they have stript themselves stark naked and lostall their movables in their cabin. Some have been known to stake theirliberty for a certain time. This circumstance proves beyond all doubthow passionately fond they are of it, there being no people in theworld more jealous of their liberty than our Indians. "

In the description which Charlevoix then gives, he is relied partlyupon personal observations and also to some extent, upon accounts whichwere at that time in manuscript in Quebec mid which were easilyaccessible to him. He was himself an intelligent observer and acultivated man. His history and his letters, although not free from thelooseness of expression which pervades contemporaneous accounts show onthe whole the discipline of an educated mind. We learn from him andfrom the authorities heretofore enumerated that two players only fromeach side could participate in this game at any given time during itsprogress. The necessary implements were a bowl and a number of dicefashioned somewhat like apricot seeds, and colored differently upon theupper and lower sides. Generally, one side was white and the otherblack. The number of these dice was generally six. There was no fixedrule as to the materials of which they were made; sometimes they wereof bone; sometimes the stones of fruits were used. The important pointwas that the centre of gravity of each die should be so placed, thatwhen it was thrown into the air, or when the bowl in which it wasplaced, was violently twirled, there would be an even chance as towhich of its two sides the die would settle upon when it lodged; and inthe game as it was played in early times that the whole number of diceused should be uniform in the coloring of the sides, each die havingthe different sides of different colors. The dice were placed in thebowl which was generally of wood, between the two players who were tocast them in behalf of their respective sides. These casters orthrowers were selected by each side and the prevailing motives in theirchoice were generally based upon some superstitious belief in theirluck. Perhaps this one had dreamed that he would win. Perhaps that onewas believed to possess some magic power, or some secret ointment whichwhen applied to the dice would cause them to turn up favorably for hisside. [Footnote: Relations des Jesuites, Relation en l'Annue, 1636, p. 113. ] The spectators were generally arranged in seats along the sidesof the cabin [Footnote: Ibid, Relation en l'Annue, 1639, p. 95. ], placed in tiers so that each person could have a view of the players. They were in more senses than one deeply interested in the game. Whenthe cast was to be made the player would strike the bowl upon theground so as to make the dice jump into the air [Footnote: SigudTheodat Vol. 1, p. 213. ] and would then twirl the bowl rapidly around. During this process and until it stopped its revolutions and the dicefinally settled, the players addressed the dice and beat themselves ontheir breasts. [Footnote: Shea's Hennepin, p. 300. ] The spectatorsduring the same period filled the air with shouts and invoked aid fromtheir own protecting powers, while in the same breath they poured forthimprecations on those of their adversaries. The number of pointsaffected the length of the game and as entirely optional. If six dicewere used and all came up of the same color, the throw counted five. [Footnote: Among the Delawares it required eight counts of five to win. History of the Mission of the United Brethren among the Indians etc. GH Loskiel. Translated by I Latrobe, Part I, Ch. VIII, p. 106. ] If fiveof them were of the same color it counted one. Any lower number failedto count. If the caster was unsuccessful he gave place to another, butso long as he continued to win his side would retain him in thatposition. [Footnote: Charlevoix Vol. III, p. 264. ] The game was oftenushered in with singing. Like lacrosse it was prescribed as a remedyfor sickness or in consequence of dreams, and the sufferer in whosebehalf the game was played was borne to the cabin in which it was totake place. Preliminary fasting and continence were observed, and everyeffort made that superstition could suggest to discover who would bethe lucky thrower and who could aid the caster by his presence at thecontest. Old men, unable to walk thither, were brought up on theshoulders of the young men that their presence might be propitious tothe chances of the game. [Footnote: Ibid p. 202. ] The excitement whichattended one of these games of chance was intense, especially when thegame reached a critical point and some particular throw was likely toterminate it. Charlevoix says the games often lasted for five or sixdays [Footnote: Loskiel (p. 106) saw a game between two Iroquois townswhich lasted eight days. Sacrifices for luck were offered by the sideseach night. ] and oftentimes the spectators concerned in the game, "arein such an agitation as to be transported out of themselves to such adegree that they quarrel and fight, which never happens to the Hurons, except on these occasions or when they are drunk. "

Perhaps rum was responsible also for these quarrels; for in the earlyaccounts we are told that losses were philosophically accepted. FatherBiebeuf tells of a party who had lost their leggings at one of thesegames and who returned to their village in three feet of snow ascheerful in appearance as if they had won. There seems to have been nolimit to which they would not go in their stakes while under theexcitement of the game. Clothing, wife, family and sometimes thepersonal liberty of the player himself rested in the hazard of the die. [Footnote: Cheulevoix Vol. III, p. 261. Le Grand Voyage du Pays DesHurons, pan Gabriel Sigud Theodat Puis 1632, Nouvelle Edition, Paris, 1835, p. 85, Relations de Jesuites, Relation de la Nouvelle France enl'Annee 1639, pp. 95-96, Lafitau, Vol. II, p. 341. ]

The women often played the game by themselves, though apparently withless formality than characterized the great matches. The latterfrequently assumed the same local characteristics that we have seen inthe game of lacrosse, and we hear of village being pitted againstvillage as a frequent feature of the game. [Footnote: Penot p. 43, Histoire du Canada par F. X. Garneau, Vol. I, p. 115. ]

Morgan [Footnote: League of the Iroquois, p. 602. ] describes a gameplayed by the Iroquois with buttons or dice made of elk-horn, roundedand polished and blackened on one side. The players spread a blanket onthe ground; and the dice were tossed with the hand in the air andpermitted to fall on the blanket. The counts were determined as in thegame of platter by the color of the sides of the dice which wereexposed when they settled. The number of the dice was eight. 

In Perrot's [Footnote: Periot, p. 50. ] description of the game ofplatter he, alludes to a game, played with eight dice, on a blanket inprecisely this way, but he adds that it was practised by women andgirls. La Potherie [Footnote: La Potherie, Vol. III, p. 23. ] says thatthe women sometimes play at platter, but ordinarily they cast the fruitstones with the hand as one throws dice. 

Under the name of "hubbub" this game has also been described byobservers among the Abenakis. Ogilby [Footnote: America, being anAccurate Description of the New World, etc. Collected and Translated byJohn Ogilby. London, 1670, Book II, Ch. II, p. 155. ] says: "Hubbub isfive small Bones in a small Tray; the Bones be like a Die, butsomething flatter, black on the one side and white on the other, whichthey place on the Ground, against which violently thumping the Platter, the Bones mount, changing Colour with the windy whisking of their Handsto and fro; which action in that sport they much use, smitingthemselves on the Breasts and Thighs, crying out Hub Hub Hub; they maybe heard playing at this game a quarter of a mile off. The Bones beingall black or white make a double Game; if three of one colour, and twoof another, then they afford but a single game; four of a colour andone differing is nothing. So long as the Man wins he keeps the Tray, but if he lose the next Man takes it. "

There is but little said about this game in the south by writers. Itevidently had no such hold there as among the Hurons and the tribesalong the Lakes. Lawson [Footnote: History of North Carolina by JohnLawson, London, 1718, p. 176. ] saw it played in North Carolina withpersimmon stones as dice. While this fixes the fact that the game had ahome among the southern Indians, the way in which it has been slightedby the majority of writers who treat of that section shows that it wasnot a favorite game there. 

To what shall we ascribe this? Its hold upon the northern Indians showsthat it was peculiarly adapted to the temperament of the natives, andwe should naturally expect to find it as much in use among the tribesof the south as with those of the north. An explanation for this maypossibly be found in the difference of the climate. The game wasespecially adapted for the winter, and while its practice was evidentlynot exclusively confined to that season, it is possible that itsgreater hold upon the affections of the Indians of the north arose fromtheir being obliged to resort to in-door amusements during theprotracted winters in that region. From this necessity the southernIndians being in a measure exempt, they continued their out-door gamesas usual and never became so thoroughly infatuated with this game. 

Informal contests were often held between players, in which the use ofthe bowl or platter was dispensed with. The dice were held in the handand then tossed in the air. They were allowed to fall upon some preparedsurface, generally a deerskin spread for the purpose. The same rules asto the color of the surfaces of the dice when they settled in theirplaces governed the count. This form of the game is sometimes describedas a separate game. Boucher [Footnote: True and Genuine Description ofNew France, etc, by Pierre Boucher, Paris, 1644 Translated under title"Canada to the Seventeenth Century, " Montreal, 1883, p. 57. ] calls it_Paquessen_. [Footnote: Played by women and girls. Sagard Theodat, Histoire du Canada, Vol. I, p. 244. ] The women of Oregon played it withmarked beaver teeth. [Footnote: Contributions to North AmericanEthnology, Vol. I, p. 206, George Gibbs; H. H. Bancroft's Native Races, Vol. I, p. 244, The Northwest Coast by James G. Swan, p. 158. ] Among theTwanas it was played with beaver or muskrat teeth. [Footnote: Bulletin US Geological Survey, Vol. III, No. 1, April 5, 1877. Rev. M. Eels. ]Powers [Footnote: Contributions to North American Ethnology, Vol. III, p. 332. ] says that among the Nishmams, a tribe living on--the slopes ofthe Sierra Nevada between the Yuba and Cosumnes rivers, a game of diceis played by men or women, two, three or four together. The dice, fourin number, consist of two acorns split lengthwise into halves, with theoutsides scraped and painted red or black. They are shaken in the handand thrown into a wide flat basket, woven in ornamental patterns. Onepaint and three whites, or _vice versa_, score nothing; two of eachscore one; four alike score four. The thrower keeps on throwing until hemakes a blank throw, when another takes the dice. When all the playershave stood their turn, the one who has scored the most takes thestakes. "

The women of the Yokuts, [Footnote: Contributions to North AmericanEthnology, Vol. III, p. 377. ] a Californian tribe which lived in theSan Joaquin valley near Tulare Lake, had a similar game. Each die washalf a large acorn or walnut shell filled with pitch and powderedcharcoal and inlaid with bits of bright colored abaloni shell. Foursquaws played and a fifth kept tally with fifteen sticks. There wereeight dice and they scooped them up with their hands and dashed theminto the basket, counting one when two or five flat surfaces turned up. 

Schoolcraft [Footnote: Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, Vol. II, pp. 71, 72. ] says "one of the principal amusements of a sedentary character isthat of various games, success in which depends on luck in numbers. These games, to which both the prairie and forest tribes are addicted, assume the fascination and intensity of gambling; and the most valuedarticles are often staked upon the luck of a throw. For this purposethe prairie tribes commonly use the stones of the wild plum or someanalogous fruit, upon which various devices indicating theirarithmetical value are burned in, or engraved and colored, so as at aglance to reveal the character of the pieces. " Among the Dacota tribesthis is known by a term which is translated the "game of plum stones. "He gives illustrations of the devices on five sets of stones, numberingeight each. "To play this game a little orifice is made in the groundand a skin put in it; often it is also played on a robe. " [Footnote:Domenech. Vol. II, p. 191, First Annual Report of Bureau of Ethnology. Smithsonian, 1881, p. 195. ] The women and the young men play this game. The bowl is lifted with one hand and rudely pushed down to its place. The plum stones fly over several times. The stake is first put up byall who wish to play. A dozen can play at once if desirable. 

Schoolcraft [Footnote: Vol. N, p. 72. ] describes still another form of, the game which he found among the Chippewas, in which thirteen pieces ordice were used. Nine of them were of bone and were fashioned in figurestypifying fish, serpents, etc. One side of each was painted red and haddots burned in with a hot iron. The brass pieces were circular havingone side convex and the other concave. The convex side was bright, theconcave dark or dull. The red pieces were the winning pieces and eachhad an arithmetical value. Any number of players might play. A woodenbowl, curiously carved and ornamented, was used. This form of the gamemay have been modified by contact with the whites. It seems to be themost complex [Footnote: See also a simpler form of the game described byPhilander Prescott among the Dacotas--Schoolcraft, Vol. IV, p. 64. Thetendency of the modern Indians to elaborate the game may be traced inthe description of "Plumstone shooting" given in "Omaha Sociology" byRev. J. Owen Dorsey. Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology tothe Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Washington, 1884, p. 335. ]form in which the game appears. The fact still remains however, that insome form or other we find the game in use across the entire breadth ofthe continent. [Footnote: Col. James Smith describes the game among theWyandots. An Account of the Remarkable Occurrences in the Life andTravels of Col. James Smith, during his Captivity with the Indians inthe Years 1755-1759. Cincinnati, 1870, p. 46. Tanner also describes it. He calls it _Beg-ga sah_ or dice. Tanner's Narrative, New York, 1830, p. 114. ]

STRAW OR INDIAN CARDS. 

The third game mentioned by Father Brebeuf was that which was calledstraw. We have seen that the first of these games called for strength, agility and endurance. It was as free from elements of chance as anyhuman contest can be. The victory belonged to the side which countedamongst its numbers those players who were the fleetest runners, themost skilful throwers and the most adroit dodgers. The second waspurely a game of chance. If honestly played no other element enteredinto its composition. The third which we are now about to consider wasmuch more complicated in its rules than either of the others. Itclosely resembled in some respects several of our modern gamblinggames. The French found it very difficult to comprehend and hence theaccounts of it which they have given are often confused and perplexing. Boucher [Footnote: p. 57. ] says, "Our French people have not yet beenable to learn to play it well; it is full of spirit and these strawsare to the Indians what cards are to us. " Lafitau [Footnote: Vol. II, p. 351. ] after quoting from Boucher says, "Baron de LaHontan also madeout of it a game purely of the mind and of calculation, in which he whobest knows how to add and subtract, to multiply and divide with thesestraws will surely win. To do this, use and practice are necessary, forthese savages are nothing less than good calculators. "

"Sieur Perrot, who was a celebrated traveller, and that European whomthe savages of New France have most honored, left a description of thisgame in his manuscript Memorial. I would gladly have inserted it herebut it is so obscure that it is nearly unintelligible. " Charlevoixadmits that he could understand nothing of the game, except as playedby two persons in its simplest form and adds that he was told that"there was as much of art as of chance in the game and that the Indiansare great cheats at it. " [Footnote: Charlevoix, Vol. III, p. 319, Father Tailban who edited Perrot says he has not been any moresuccessful than his predecessors and the game of straws remains to himan unsolved enigma. Perrot, Notes to Ch. X, p. 188. ] Where Lafitau andCharlevoix, aided by opportunities to investigate the game itself, havefailed, it would seem to be useless for us to attempt. Perrot hasindeed succeeded in making his account hopelessly involved. There ishowever much information to be derived from it and the obscure pointsare after all unimportant unless one should actually wish to reproducethe game in practice. In that event there are many points connectedwith the counts which would prove troublesome. 

To play the game, a number of straws or reeds uniform in size and ofequal length were required. They were generally from six to ten incheslong. The number used in the game was arbitrary. Lawson puts it atfifty-one. Charlevoix at two hundred and one. The only essential pointswere that the numbers should be odd and that there should be enough ofthem so that when the pile was divided into two parts, a glance wouldnot reveal which of the two divisions contained the odd number ofstraws. In its simplest form, the game consisted, in separating the heapof straws into two parts, one of which each player took, and he whosepile contained the odd number of straws was the winner. Before thedivision was made the straws were subjected to a manipulation, somewhatafter the manner of shuffling cards. They were then placed upon thedeer-skin or upon whatever other article was selected as a surface onwhich to play. The player who was to make the division into two heaps, with many contortions of the body and throwing about of the arms, andwith constant utterances to propitiate his good luck, would make adivision of the straws with a pointed bone or some similar instrument, himself taking one of the divisions while his adversary took the other. They would then rapidly separate the straws into parcels numbering teneach and determine from the fractional remainders, who had the oddnumber. The speed with which this process of counting was carried on wasalways a source of wonder to the lookers-on, and the fact that thecounting was done by tens is almost invariably mentioned. Between twopeople betting simply on the odd number no further rules were necessary. To determine which had the heap containing the odd number, there was noneed to foot up the total number of tens. It was to be settled by whatwas left over after the last pile of complete tens was set aside. Thenumber itself might be either one, three, five, seven or nine. In themore complicated form of the game, this led to giving different valuesto these numbers, the nine being always supreme and the one on which thehighest bets were wagered. It was generally understood that the holderof this number swept the board taking all bets on other numbers as wellas those on the nine. It was easy to bet beads against beads and skinsagainst skins, in a simple game of odd or even, but when the element ofdifferent values for different combinations was introduced, some mediumof exchange was needed to relieve the complications. Stones of fruitwere employed just as chips or counters are used in modern gamblinggames, and a regular bank was practically instituted. Each player took acertain number of these counters, as the equivalent of the value of themerchandise which he proposed to hazard on the game, whether it was agun, a blanket, or some other article. Here we have all the machinery ofa regular gambling game at cards, but the resemblance does not stophere. The players put up their bets precisely as they now do in a gameof faro, selecting their favorite number and fixing the amount, measuredin the standard of the game, which they wished to hazard. "By the sideof the straws which are on the ground are found the (_grains_) counters, "says Perrot, "which the players have bet on the game. " In another place, the method of indicating the bets is stated as follows: "he (meaningapparently the one who has bet) is also obliged to make two other heaps. In one he will place five, in the other seven straws, with as many(_grains_) counters as he pleases. " These phrases may fairly beinterpreted to mean that a record of the bets, somewhat of the samestyle as that kept with counters upon a faro table, was constantlybefore the players. Complicated rules determined when the players won orlost; when the bets were to be doubled and when they were to abide thechance of another count. The loser at the game, even after all that hehad with him was gone, was sometimes permitted to continue the game onhis promise to pay. If ill luck still pursued him the winner couldrefuse him credit and decline to play for stakes that he could not see. 

The game often lasted for several days, one after another of the sidesrelieving his comrades at the play until one of the two sides had losteverything, it being, says Perrot, [Footnote: p. 19. ] "a maxim of thesavages not to quit play until one side or the other had losteverything. " Those who had bet at the game had the right to substituteany person whom they pleased to play for them. "Should any disputearise on this point, " says Perrot, "between the winners and the losers, the disputants backed by their respective sides would probably come toblows, blood would be shed and the whole thing would be very difficultto settle. " Cheating often took place at this game. Its exposure wasconsidered praiseworthy and its practice denounced. If doubts wereexpressed as to the accuracy of a count, the matter was peacefullyadjusted by a re-count by two of the spectators. 

"This game of straw, " says Perrot, from whose account we have made theforegoing digest, "is ordinarily held in the cabins of the chiefs, which are large, and are, so to speak, the Academy of the Savages. " Heconcludes his account with the statement that the women never play it. [Footnote: See also Shea's Hennepin, p. 300. ] The authority on thisgame whom Ogilby quotes slides over the difficulties of the descriptionwith the statement that "many other whimsies be in this game whichwould be too long to commit to paper. " Abbe Ferland [Footnote: Vol. I, p. 134. ] epitomizes the results of his investigation of this game asfollows: "Memory, calculation and quickness of eyesight were necessaryfor success. "

Like the game of dice or platter it was essentially a house game, andlike platter it is rarely mentioned by writers who describe the habitsof Indians in the south. Lawson describes it, but in slightly modifiedform, as follows: "Indian Cards. Their chiefest game is a sort ofArithmetick, which is managed by a parcel of small split reeds, thethickness of a small Bent; these are made very nicely, so that theypart, and are tractable in their hands. They are fifty-one in number, their length about seven inches; when they play, they throw part ofthem to their antagonist; the art is, to discover, upon sight, how manyyou have, and what you throw to him that plays with you. Some are soexpert at their numbers, that they will tell ten times together, whatthey throw out of their hands. Although the whole play is carried onwith the quickest motion it is possible to use, yet some are so expertat this Game, as to win great Indian Estates by this Play. A good setof these reeds, fit to play withal are valued and sold for a dresseddoe-skin. "

A. W. Chase [Footnote: Overland Monthly, Vol. II, p. 433. Dorsey founda survival of the game in use among the Omahas. He called it "stickcounting. " Third Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, p. 338. ] speaks of"native games of cards among the Coquelles and Makneatanas, thepasteboards being bundles of sticks. " He furnishes no description ofthe games, but uses the same phrase which was applied by Lawson inNorth Carolina and by Boucher in Canada. 

Frank H. Cushing [Footnote: The Century, Vol. XXVI, p. 38. MyAdventures in Zuni. ] speaks of a game of "Cane-cards" among the Zuniwhich he says "would grace the most civilized society with a refinedsource of amusement. " He was not able fully to comprehend it. 

In the list of games, there is none of which we have any detailedaccount, which compares with straws as played by the northern tribes, in elaborateness of construction. The unfortunate confusion whichprevails throughout Perrot's description of the method of counting, andthe way in which the point was shirked by all other writers on thesubject, prevents any attempt at analysis. So far as we can see, therules were arbitrary and not based upon any calculations of the laws ofchance. If some other detailed account of the game should be discoveredit would be interesting to follow up this question and ascertain howfar the different combinations which affected the counts were basedupon a theory of probabilities and how far they were arbitrary. 

It will of course be noticed that the game described by Lawson wasrelieved from much of this complication. The dexterity required to makea throw of such a nature that the player could tell exactly the numberof reeds with which he had parted, was of course remarkable andnaturally called forth expressions of surprise. But there wereapparently no other combinations resting upon the throw than the simpleguess at the number thrown. Travellers in California have described thegame in still simpler form in which we see hints of the more complexgame. Here the "sticks" were thrown in the air and an immediate guesswas made whether the number thrown was odd or even. An umpire kept theaccount with other sticks and on this count the bets were adjusted. [Footnote: Kotzebue, A Voyage of Discovery, etc. London, 1821, Vol. I, p. 282 and Vol. III, p. 44. Note. W. H. Emory, U S. And MexicanBoundary Survey, Vol. I, p. 111, says: "The Yumas played a game withsticks like jackstraws. " Stanley, Smithsonian MiscellaneousCollections. Vol. II, p. 55, gives among his "Portraits of NorthAmerican Indians, " a picture of a game which he describes as "playedexclusively by women. They hold in their hands twelve sticks about sixinches in length which they drop upon a rock. The sticks that fallacross each other are counted for game. "]

Wherever we find it and whatever the form in use, whether simple orcomplicated, like games of lacrosse and platter the occasion of itsplay was but an excuse for indulgence in the inveterate spirit ofgambling which everywhere prevailed. 

CHUNKEE OR HOOP AND POLE. 

Among the Indians at the south, observers noted and described a game ofgreat antiquity, of which we have no record during historical timesamong those of the north, unless we should classify the game of javelindescribed by Morgan [Footnote: League of the Iroquois, p. 300. ] as amodified form of the same game. The general name by which this game wasknown was chunkee. When Iberville arrived at the mouth of theMississippi he despatched a party to explore the river. The officer whokept the "Journal de la fregate, le Marin" was one of that party and herecorded the fact that the Bayagoulas and Mougoulachas passed thegreater part of their time in playing in this place with great stickswhich they throw after a little stone, which is nearly round and like abullet. [Footnote: Maigry, Deconvertes, etc. , Vol. 4, p. 261. ] FatherGravier descended the river in 1700 and at the village of Houmas he sawa "fine level square where from morning to night there are young men whoexercise themselves in running after a flat stone which they throw inthe air from one end of the square to the other, and which they try tohave fall on two cylinders that they roll where they think the stonewill fall. " [Footnote: Shea's Early Voyages. Albany, 1861, p. 143. ]Adair gives the following description of the same game: "The warriorshave another favorite game, called _'chungke'_, which, with propriety oflanguage may be called 'Running hard labour. ' They have near their statehouse [Footnote: Consult E G Squire--Aboriginal Monuments of N. Y. Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. II, pp. 1356 and note p. 136. ] a square piece of ground well cleaned, and fine sand is carefullystrewed over it, when requisite, to promote a swifter motion to whatthey throw along the surface. Only one or two on a side play at thisancient game. They have a stone about two fingers broad at the edge andtwo spans round; each party has a pole of about eight feet long, smooth, and tapering at each end, the points flat. They set off abreast of eachother at six yards from the end of the playground; then one of themhurls the stone on its edge, in as direct a line as he can, aconsiderable distance toward the middle of the other end of the square. When they have run a few yards, each darts his pole anointed with bears'oil, with a proper force, as near as he can guess in proportion to themotion of the stone, that the end may lie close to the stone. When thisis the case, the person counts two of the game, and, in proportion tothe nearness of the poles to the mark, one is counted, unless bymeasuring, both are found to be at an equal distance from the stone. Inthis manner, the players will keep running most part of the day, at halfspeed, under the violent heat of the sun, staking their silverornaments, their nose-, finger-and ear-rings; their breast-, arm-andwrist-plates, and even all their wearing apparel, except that whichbarely covers their middle. All the American Indians are much addictedto this game, which to us appears to be a task of stupid drudgery; itseems, however, to be of early origin, when their forefathers useddiversions as simple as their manners. The hurling stones they use atpresent were from time immemorial rubbed smooth on the rocks and withprodigious labor; and they are kept with the strictest religious care, from one generation to another, and are exempted from being buried withthe dead. They belong to the town where they are used, and are carefullypreserved. " [Footnote: See also Historical Collection, Louisiana andFlorida. B. F. French (Vol. II. ), second series, p. 74, New York, 1875. ]

Lieut. Timberlake [Footnote: Memoirs of Lieut. Henry Timberlake, etc. , London, 1765, p. 77. ] describes the game as he saw it played among theCherokees where it was known by the name of "Netteeawaw. " "Each playerhas a pole about ten feet long, with several marks or divisions. One ofthem bowls a round stone with one flat side, and the other convex, onwhich the players all dart their poles after it, and the nearest countsaccording to the vicinity of the bowl to the marks on his pole. "

Romans saw it among the Choctaws. He says, "The manner of playing thegame is thus: they make an alley of about two hundred feet in length, where a very smooth clayey ground is laid, which when dry is very hard:they play two together having each a straight pole about fifteen feetlong; one holds a stone which is in the shape of a truck, which hethrows before him over this alley, and the instant of its departure, they set off and run; in running they cast their poles after the stone;he that did not throw it endeavors to hit it; the other strives tostrike the pole of his antagonist in its flight so as to prevent thepole of his opponent hitting the stone. If the first should strike thestone he counts one for it, and if the other by the dexterity of hiscast should prevent the pole of his opponent hitting the stone, hecounts one, but should both miss their aim the throw is renewed. "

Le Page du Pratz [Footnote: Histoire de la Louisiane, Paris, 1738, Vol. III, p. 2. ] describes the game as practised among the Natchez. He callsit "_Le Jeu de la Perche_ which would be better named _de la crosse_. "Dumont who was stationed at Natchez and also on the Yazoo, describes thegame and speaks of it as "La Crosse. " [Footnote: Memoires Historiquessur la Louisiane, Paris, 1753, Vol. I, p. 202. ]

Adair is correct when he speaks of the antiquity of this game. When hedwells upon the fact that these stones are handed down from generationto generation, as the property of the village, he brings these tribesclose to the mound dwellers. Sanier, [Footnote: Ancient Monuments of theMississippi Valley, p. 223. ] speaking of discoidal stones, found in themounds, says, "It is known that among the Indian tribes of the Ohio andalong the Gulf, such stones were in common use in certain favoritegames. " Lucien Carr [Footnote: 10th Annual Report Peabody Museum, p. 93. See also Schoolcraft's Indian tribes, Vol. I, p. 83. ] describes andpictures a chunkee stone from Ely Mound, Va. Lewis and Clarke [Footnote:Lewis and Clarke's Expedition, Phila, 1814, Vol. I, p. 143. ] describethe game as played among the Mandans. This tribe had a wooden platformprepared on the ground between two of their lodges. Along this platformthe stone ring was rolled and the sticks were slid along the floor inpursuit of it. Catlin [Footnote: Vol. I, p. 132 _et seq. _ Dorseydescribes two forms of the game in use among the Omahas: "shooting atthe rolling wheel" and "stick and ring" Third Annual Report. Bureau ofEthnology, pp. 335-336. Cf. Travels in the Interior of America, in theyears 1809, 1810 and 1811, by John Bradbury, p. 126. ] describes the gameas played by the same tribe. They had a carefully prepared pavement ofclay on which they played. The "Tchunkee" sticks were marked with bitsof leather and the counts of the game were affected by the position ofthe leather on or near which the ring lodged. The Mojaves are accustomedto play a similar game which has been described under the name "Hoop andPole". [Footnote: Lieut. A. W. Whipple in Pac. R. R. Rep.. Vol. III, p. 114; Harper's Mag. , Vol. XVII, p. 463; Domenech. Vol. II, p. 197; H. H. Bancroft's Native Races, Vol. I, p. 393, p. 517 and note 133. TheMartial Experiences of the California Volunteers by Edward Carlsen, Overland, Vol. VII, No. 41. 2nd Series, p. 494. ] A similar game wasplayed by the Navajoes. [Footnote: Major E. A. Backus in Schoolcraft. Vol. IV, p. 214. ]

The Yumas played a game with two poles fifteen feet long and a ring afew inches in diameter. [Footnote: W. H. Emory, U. S. And MexicanBoundary Survey, Vol. I, p. 111. ] Kane [Footnote: Kane's Wanderings, p. 310; H. H. Bancroft's Native Races, Vol. I, p. 280. ] says that theChualpays at Fort Colville on the Columbia "have a game which they call'_Alkollock_, ' which requires considerable skill. A smooth, level pieceof ground is chosen, and a slight barrier of a couple of sticks placedlengthwise is laid at each end of the chosen spot, being from forty tofifty feet apart and only a few inches high. The two players, strippednaked, are armed with a very slight spear, about three feet long, andfinely pointed with bone; one of them takes a ring made of bone or someheavy wood and wound with cord. The ring is about three inches indiameter, on the inner circumference of which are fastened six beads ofdifferent colors, at equal distances, to each of which a separate valueis attached. The ring is then rolled along the ground to one of thebarriers and is followed at the distance of two or three yards by theplayers, and as the ring strikes the barrier and is falling on its side, the spears are thrown, so that the ring may fall on them. If any one ofthe spears should be covered by the ring, the owner counts according tothe colored bead on it. But it generally happens from the dexterity ofthe players that the ring covers both spears and each counts accordingto the color of the beads above his spear. They then play towards theother barrier, and so on until one party has obtained the number agreedupon for the game. "

In his "Life among the Apaches, " [Footnote: Life among the Apaches byJohn C. Cremony, p. 302. ] Colonel Cremony describes the hoop and polegame as played by the Apaches. With them the pole is marked withdivisions throughout its whole length and these divisions are staineddifferent colors. The object of the game is to make the hoop fall uponthe pole as near the butt as possible, graduated values being appliedto the different divisions of the pole. The women are not permitted toapproach within a hundred yards while the game is going on. [Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote relocated to chapter end. ] Thosewho have described this game in the various forms in which it has beenpresented dwell upon the fact that it taxed the strength, activity andskill of the players. In this respect it rivalled lacrosse. Ingeographical range the territory in which it was domesticated wasnearly the same. 

There are many, doubtless, who would decline to recognize the discoidalstones of the mounds as chunkee stones, but it can not be denied thatthe "_netlecawaw_" of the Cherokees [Footnote: Timberlake p. 77. ], the"hoop and pole" of the Mojaves and Apaches [Footnote: Whipple, Pac. R. R. Rep. , Vol. III, p. 114. Cremony, p. 302, Harper's Mag. Vol. XVII, p. 463. ], the second form of "spear and ring" described by Domenech, [Footnote: Domenech, Vol. II, p. 197. ] the "_alkollock_" of theChualpays [Footnote: Kane's Wanderings, p. 310. ] and the chunkee ofRomans and Adair are the same game. The change from the discoidal stoneto the ring; the different materials of which the ring is made, whetherof stone, [Footnote: Lewis and Clarke, Vol. I, p. 143; Catlin, Vol. I, p. 132. ] of bone, [Footnote: Kane's Wanderings, p. 310. ], of wood, [Footnote: Cremony, p. 302. ] or of cord; [Footnote: Whipple, Pac. R. R. Rep. , Vol. III, p. 114. ] whether wound with cord [Footnote: Kane'sWanderings, p. 310. ] or plain; the different lengths of the spearsvarying from three feet [Footnote: Ibid. ] to ten feet [Footnote:Timberlake, p. 77; Cremony, p. 302. ] and even reaching fifteen feet inlength among the Mojaves; [Footnote: Whipple, Pac. R. R. Rep. , Vol. III, p. 114. ] the different markings of the spear [Footnote: Cremony, p. 302;Domenech, Vol. II, p. 197; Timberlake, p. 77. ] and the ring; [Footnote:Kane's Wanderings, p. 310. ] the different ways of preparing the ground, whether tamping with clay, [Footnote: Catlin, Vol. , I, p. 132. ] orflooring with timber, [Footnote: Lewis and Clarke, Vol. I, p. 148. ] orsimply removing the vegetation, [Footnote: Domenech, Vol. II, p. 197. ]--all these minor differences are of little consequence. Thestriking fact remains that this great number of tribes, so widelyseparated, all played a game in which the principal requirements were, that a small circular disk should be rolled rapidly along a preparedsurface and that prepared wooden implements, similar to spears, shouldbe launched at the disk while in motion or just at the time when itstopped. Like lacrosse, it was made use of as an opportunity forgambling, but owing to the restriction of the ground on which it couldbe played, the number of players were limited, and to that extent theinterest in the contests and the excitement attendant upon them wereproportionally reduced. 

[Relocated Footnote: The Hawaiians were accustomed to hurl a piece ofhard lava along narrow trenches prepared for the purpose. The stonewhich was called Maika closely resembled a chunkee stone. It isdescribed as being in the shape of a small wheel or roller, threeinches in diameter and an inch and a half thick, very smooth and highlypolished. This game appears to have been limited to a contest of skillin rolling or hurling the stone itself. The additional interest whichwas given by hurling the spears at it while in motion was wanting. Narrative of the U. S. Exploring Expedition by Charles Wilkes, London, 1815, Vol. IV, p. 35. ]

OTHER ATHLETIC GAMES. 

In addition to the games of lacrosse, platter or dice, straws andchunkee, there were other games, some of an athletic nature, somepurely of chance, which observers have described, some of which arementioned only in limited areas, while others, like the games abovementioned, were played by Indians scattered over a wide territory andapparently having but little in common. Some of these games were butmodified forms of those which have been already described. Such, forinstance, is a game of ball which is described by Lafitau [Footnote:Lafitau, Vol. II, p. 353. ]and by Charlevoix. [Footnote: Charlevoix, Vol. III, p. 319. ] This closely resembled lacrosse in its generalmethods of play, but as no rackets were used, it was less dangerous andless exciting. Goals were erected at each end of the field, separatedby five hundred paces according to Lafitau. The players were dividedinto sides. The ball was tossed into the air in the centre of thefield. When it came down the players of each side strove to catch it. He who was successful ran in the direction of the goal which he wishedto reach. The players of the opposite side pursued him and did whatthey could to prevent him from accomplishing his object. When it wasevident that the runner could gain no more ground, he would pass theball, if possible, to some player upon the same side and his success inaccomplishing this was dependent largely upon his skill. The game isprobably not so old as lacrosse, for the ball is described as beinglarger and softer than the one used in lacrosse, thus indicating thatit belonged to the period when the stuffed deer-skin ball was used inthat game. 

Both Dumont and Le Page du Pratz describe this game with thisdifference, [Footnote: Dumont, Vol. I, p. 201, LePage, Vol. I, p. 378. ]that the ball, according to their descriptions, was incessantly tossedin the air. Romans says that this game was played among the women; andLafitau, who describes it separately, adds that in this form it wasonly played by girls. He also says that the Abenakis indulged in asimilar game, using an inflated bladder for a ball; and that theFlorida Indians fixed a willow cage upon a pole in such a way that itcould revolve and tried to hit it with a ball so as to make it turnseveral times. [Footnote: Lafitau. Vol. II, p. 158. ]

Joutel in his historical journal describes a curious game as follows:"Taking a short stick, very smooth and greased that it may be theharder to hold it fast, one of the elders throws it as far as he can. The young men run after it, snatch it from each other, and at last, hewho remains possessed of it has the first lot. " [Footnote: French'sHistorical Collections of Louisiana, Vol. I, p. 188; Sanford's Historyof the United States before the Revolution, p. Clxxxii. ]

Football is found at the north. Ogilby [Footnote: Ogilby, Book II, Chap. II, p. 156. See also Smith's Narrative, p. 77. ] says: "Theirgoals are a mile long placed on the sands, which are as even as aboard; their ball is no bigger than a hand ball, which sometimes theymount in the air with their naked feet, sometimes it is swayed by themultitude, sometimes also it is two days before they get a goal, thenthey mark the ground they win, and begin there the next day. Beforethey come to this sport they paint themselves, even as when they go towar. " At the south it was "likewise a favorite manly diversion withthem. " [Footnote: Bartram, p. 509. ]

Certain forms of ball-play which were neither lacrosse nor chunkee, butwhich resembled these games were found in different localities. Such forinstance is the game which Catlin [Footnote: Vol. II, p. 146. ] sawplayed by the Sioux women. Two balls were connected with a string a footand a half long. Each woman was armed with a stick. They were dividedinto equal sides. Goals were erected and the play was in some respectslike lacrosse. Stakes were wagered on the game. This game isalso-described by Domenech, [Footnote: Vol. II, p. 196. ] who says thewomen wore a special costume which left the limbs free and that the gamewas "unbecoming and indecent. " Powers [Footnote: Contribution to NorthAmerican Ethnology, Vol. III, p. 383. ] found a game among the Nishinams, on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, not far from Sacramento, which in some respects also resembled lacrosse. He says "The '_Ti'-kel_'is the only really robust and athletic game they use, and is played by alarge company of men and boys. The piece [Footnote: The equivalent inthe game, of the ball in lacrosse. ] is made of raw-hide or nowadays ofstrong cloth, and is shaped like a small dumb-bell. It is laid in thecentre of a wide, level space of ground, in a furrow, hollowed out a fewinches in depth. Two parallel lines are drawn equidistant from it, a fewpaces apart, and along these lines the opposing parties, equal instrength, range themselves. Each player is equipped with a slight, strong staff, from four to six feet long. The two champions of the partytake their stations on opposite sides of the piece, which is thrown intothe air, caught on the staff of one of the others, and hurled by him inthe direction of his antagonist's goal. With this send-off there ensuesa wild chase and a hustle, pell-mell, higgledy-piggledy, each partystriving to bowl the piece over the other's goal. These goals areseveral hundred yards apart. 

In an article in the Overland Monthly, [Footnote: Vol. II, p. 433. Seealso Smith's Narrative, p. 77. ] A. W. Chase describes a game in vogueamong the Oregon Indians which he says was identical with hockey, asfollows: "Sides being chosen, each endeavors to drive a hard ball ofpine wood around a stake and in different directions; stripped to thebuff, they display great activity and strength, whacking away at eachother's shins, if they are in the way, with a refreshing disregard ofbruises. The squaws assist in the performance by beating drums andkeeping up a monotonous chant. " In the first of the two games of "spearand ring, " described by Domenech, [Footnote: Vol. II, pp. 197-8. ] theplayers are divided into sides. The stone ring, about three inches indiameter, is fixed upright on the chosen ground, and players two at atime, one from each side, endeavor to throw their spears through thering. The spears are marked along their length with little shields orbits of leather, and the count is affected by the number of these thatpass through the ring. He also mentions a game [Footnote: He does notgive his authority for this game. He has evidently copied in his bookfrom other writers, but seldom indicates whether his descriptions arebased upon personal observation or quoted. ] among the Natchez in whichthe ring was a "huge stone" and the spear a "stick of the shape of abat. "

If we classify Domenech's first game of "spear and ring" among thosewhich resemble chunkee, rather than as a form of chunkee itself, weshall probably be compelled to pursue the same course with Morgan'sgame of "javelin" to which we have already alluded. [Footnote: Leagueof the Iroquois, p. 300. ] In this game the players divided into sides. Each player had an agreed number of javelins. The ring, which waseither a hoop or made solid like a wheel by winding with splints, wasabout eight inches in diameter. The players on one side were arrangedin a line and the hoop was rolled before them. They hurled theirjavelins. The count of the game was kept by a forfeiture of javelins. Such as hit the mark were safe, but the javelins which did not hit werepassed to the players of the other side who then had an opportunity tothrow them at the hoop from the same spot. If these players weresuccessful the javelins were forfeited and laid out of the play. If, however, they in turn failed the javelins were returned to theiroriginal owners. The hoop was then rolled by the other side and theprocess continued until one of the sides had forfeited all theirjavelins. 

OTHER GAMES OF CHANCE. 

There was diversity in the forms of the games of simple chance as wellas in the athletic games, and besides those which have been alreadydescribed, the Indians on the Pacific Coast had a great variety ofgames, or forms of the same game, in which, in addition to the elementof chance involved in determining the numbers or positions of certainsticks or counters, there was also an opportunity for the player whowas manipulating them to deceive by dexterous sleight of hand. Thesimplest form in which this is found is guessing in which hand a smallstone or bone is held. It would hardly seem that this artless effortcould be transformed into an amusing and exciting game; yet it hasattracted the attention of all travellers, and scarcely any writer, whotreats of the habits of the Pacific coast Indian, fails to give a fullaccount of this simple game. Lewis and Clarke, [Footnote: Lewis andClarke, Vol. II, 140; and also II, 94. ] when writing about the Indiansnear the mouth of the Columbia, say: "The games are of two kinds. Inthe first, one of the company assumes the office of banker and playsagainst the rest. He takes a small stone, about the size of a bean, which he shifts from one hand to another with great dexterity, repeating at the same time a song adapted to the game and which servesto divert the attention of the company, till having agreed on thestakes, he holds out his hands, and the antagonist wins or loses as hesucceeds or fails at guessing in which hand the stone is. After thebanker has lost his money or whenever he is tired, the stone istransferred to another, who in turn challenges the rest of the company. [Footnote: See also, Adventures on the Columbia River, by Ross Cox. P. 158; The Oregon Territory, by John Dunn, p. 93; Four Years in BritishColumbia, by Commander R. C. Mayne, p. 273; it was played by theComanches in Texas with a bullet, Robert S. Neighbors in Schoolcraft, Vol. II, p. 134; by the Twanas with one or two bones, Bulletin U. S. Geol. Survey, Vol. III, No. 1, p. 89, Rev. M. Eels. ] In the accountgiven by George Gibbs [Footnote: Contributions to North AmericanEthnology, Vol. I, p. 206. ] the count of the game among the tribes ofwestern Washington and northwestern Oregon, was kept by means ofsticks. Each side took five or ten small sticks, one of which waspassed to the winner on each guess, and the game was ended when thepile of one side was exhausted. According to him, "The backers of theparty manipulating keep up a constant drumming with sticks on theirpaddles which lie before them, singing an incantation to attract goodfortune. " Powers describes another form into which the game developedamong the Indians of central California. It is "played with a bit ofwood or a pebble which is shaken in the hand, and then the hand closedupon it. The opponent guesses which finger (a thumb is a finger withthem) it is under and scores one if he hits, or the other scores if hemisses. They keep tally with eight counters. " [Footnote: Contributionsto North American Ethnology, Vol. III, pp. 332-3. ]

Schwatka, in his recent exploration of the Yukon found this game amongthe Chilkats. It was called _la-hell_. Two bones were used. One was theking and one the queen. His packers gambled in guessing at the bonesevery afternoon and evening after reaching camp. [Footnote: AlongAlaska's Great River. By Frederic Schwatka, p. 71. ]

The simplicity of the game was modified by the introduction of similararticles in each hand, the question to be decided being in which handone of them having a specified mark should be found. Kane [Footnote:Kane's Wanderings, p. 189. ] thus describes such a game among theChinooks: "Their games are few. The one most generally played amongstthem consists in holding in each hand a small stick, the thickness of agoose quill, and about an inch and one-half in length, one plain, theother distinguished by a little thread wound round it, the oppositeparty being required to guess in which hand the marked stick is to befound. A Chinook will play at this simple game for days and nightstogether, until he has gambled away everything he possesses, even tohis wife. " [Footnote: See also Overland, Vol. IV, p. 163, Powers, H. H. Bancroft's Native Races, Vol. I n 244 Clay balls are sometimes used, Ibid, Vol. I, p. 353, The Northwest Coast James G Swan, p. 158, Montanaas it is Granville Stuart, p. 71. ]

Among the Utahs this form of the game was common: "A row of playersconsisting of five or six or a dozen men is arranged on either side ofthe tent facing each other. Before each man is placed a bundle of smalltwigs or sticks each six or eight inches in length and pointed at oneend. Every tete-a-tete couple is provided with two cylindrical bonedice carefully fashioned and highly polished which measure about twoinches in length and half an inch in diameter, one being white and theother black, or sometimes ornamented with a black band. " At the rear, musicians were seated who during the game beat upon rude drums. [Footnote: Edwin R Baker in the American Naturalist, June, 1877, Vol. XI, p. 551. ] In this game it will be noticed that the players pairedoff and apparently each man played for himself. 

Still another element is introduced in another form of the game, whichincreases the opportunity afforded the one who manipulates the bones fordexterity. This form of the game is repeatedly alluded to by Powers. While relating the habits and customs of the Gualala, whose homes werenear Fort Ross, he describes what he calls the gambling game of "_wi_and _tep_" and says that one description with slight variations willanswer for nearly all the tribes of central and southern California. After describing the making up of the pool of stakes, he adds: "Theygamble with four cylinders of bone about two inches long, two of whichare plain, and two marked with rings and strings tied round the middle. The game is conducted by four old and experienced men, frequently greyheads, two for each party, squatting on their knees on opposite sides ofthe fire. They have before them a quantity of fine dry grass, and withtheir hands in rapid and juggling motions before and behind them, theyroll up each piece of bone in a little ball and the opposite partypresently guess in which hand is the marked bone. Generally only oneguesses at a time, which he does with the word '_lep_' (marked one), and'_wi_' (plain one). If he guesses right for both players, they simplytoss the bones over to him and his partner, and nothing is scored oneither side. If he guesses right for one and wrong for the other, theone for whom he guessed right is 'out', but his partner rolls up thebones for another trial, and the guesser forfeits to them one of histwelve counters. If he guesses wrong for both, they still keep on and heforfeits two counters. There are only twelve counters and when they havebeen all won over to one side or the other, the game is ended. [Footnote: Powers in Contributions to North American Ethnology, Vol. III, pp. 90-152; 189-332. ] Sometimes the same game was played withoutgoing through the formality of wrapping the pieces in grass, simplyshaking them in the hands as a preliminary for the guessing. [Footnote:Contributions to North American Ethnology, Vol. III, 332; AlexanderRoss's Adventures, pp. 308, 309. ]

A slightly different method prevails among the Indians of Washingtonand northwestern Oregon. Ten disks of hard wood, each about thediameter of a Mexican dollar and somewhat thicker, are used. "One ofthese is marked and called the chief. A smooth mat is spread on theground, at the ends of which the opposing players are seated, theirfriends on either side, who are provided with the requisites for anoise as in the other case. The party holding the disks has a bundle ofthe fibres of the cedar bark, in which he envelops them, and afterrolling them about, tears the bundle into two parts, his opponentguessing in which bundle the chief lies. " [Footnote: Contributions toNorth American Ethnology, Gibbs, Vol. I, p. 206. ] The same game isdescribed by Kane, except that the counters, instead of being wrappedin one bundle which is afterward torn in two, are originally wrapped intwo bundles. [Footnote: Kane's Wanderings, p. 189; Swan's NorthwestCoast, p. 157, Eels in Bulletin U. S. G. Surv. , Vol. III, No. 1. ]

Still another complication of the guessing game was described by Mayne. [Footnote: Mayne's British Columbia, p. 275. ] Blankets were spread uponthe ground on which sawdust was spread about an inch thick. In this wasplaced the counter, a piece of bone or iron about the size of a half acrown, and one of the players shuffled it about, the others in turnguessing where it was. 

The game of "moccasin" was but a modification of this game. Asdescribed by Philander Prescott three moccasins were used in this gameby the Dacotas. The bone or stick was slipped from one to another ofthe moccasins by the manipulators, and the others had to guess in whichmoccasin it was to be found. Simple as this description seems, the menwould divide into sides, playing against each other, and accompanyingthe game with singing. [Footnote: Schoolcraft, Vol. IV, p. 64;Domenech, Vol. II, p. 192. ]

Among the Zunis, the guessing game was exalted to the nature of asacred festival. Frank H. Cushing [Footnote: The Century, Vol. XXVI, p. 37. ] gives the following account of its practice. "One morning the twochief priests of the bow climbed to the top of the houses, and just atsunrise called out a 'prayer message' from the mount-environed gods. Eight players went into a _kli-wi-lain_ to fast, and four dayslater issued forth, bearing four large wooden tubes, a ball of stone, and a bundle of thirty-six counting straws. With great ceremony, manyprayers and incantations, the tubes were deposited on two mockmountains of sand, either side of the 'grand plaza. ' A crowd began togather. Larger and noisier it grew, until it became a surging, clamorous, black mass. Gradually two piles of fabrics, --vessels, silverornaments, necklaces, embroideries, and symbols representing horses, cattle and sheep--grow to large proportions. Women gathered on theroofs around, wildly stretching forth articles for betting, until oneof the presiding priests called out a brief message. The crowd becamesilent. A booth was raised, under which two of ho players retired; andwhen it was removed the four tubes were standing on the mound of sand. A song and dance began. One by one three of the four opposing playerswere summoned to guess under which tube the ball was hidden. At eachguess the cries of the opposing party became deafening, and the mockstruggles approached the violence of combat. The last guesser found theball; and as he victoriously carried the latter and the tubes across tohis own mound, his side scored ten. The process was repeated. Thesecond guesser found the ball; his side scored fifteen setting theothers back five. The counts, numbered one hundred; but so complicatedwere the winnings and losings on both sides, with each guess of either, that hour after hour the game went on, and night closed in. Fires werebuilt in the plaza, cigarettes were lighted, but still the gamecontinued. Noisier and noisier grew the dancers; more and moreinsulting and defiant their songs and epithets to the opposing crowd, until they fairly gnashed their teeth at one another, but no blows. Daydawned upon the still uncertain contest; nor was it until the sun againtouched the western horizon, that the hoarse, still defiant voices diedaway, and the victorious party bore off their mountains of gifts fromthe gods. " The picturesque description of Cushing brings before oureyes the guessing game in its highest form of development. Among thetribes of the East, if it had a home at all, it was practised in suchan inobtrusive way as not to attract the attention of writers who havedescribed their habits and customs. The nearest approach to it which wecan find is a guessing game described by Hennepin, as follows: "Theytake kernels of Indian corn or something of the kind, then they putsome in one hand, and ask how many there are. The one who guesseswins. "

Mackenzie [Footnote: Alexander Mackenzie's Voyages in 1789 and 1893London, 1801, p. 311. ] fell in with some Indians near the Pacific coastwho travelled with him a short distance. They carried with them theimplements for gambling. Their game was different from the guessinggames which have been heretofore described. "There were two players andeach had a bundle of about fifty small sticks neatly polished, of thesize of a quill, and five inches long. A certain number of their stickshad red lines round them and as many of these as one of the playersmight find convenient were curiously rolled up in dried grass, andaccording to the judgment of his antagonist respecting their number andmarks he lost or won. "

The same game was seen at Queen Charlotte Islands by Francis Poole. [Footnote: Queen Charlotte Island, a narrative etc. , p. 25. ] He saysthere were in this game from "forty to fifty round pins or pieces ofwood, five inches long by one-eighth of an inch thick, painted in blackand blue rings and beautifully polished. " These pins were divided intotwo heaps under cover of bark fibre and the opposite player guessed oddor even for one of the piles. 

CONTESTS OF SKILL. 

Lewis and Clarke [Footnote: Vol. II, p. 140. ] describe a game among theOregon Indians which can neither be called an athletic game nor a gameof chance, but which seems to have been a simple contest of skill. "Twopins are placed on the floor, about the distance of a foot from eachother, and a small hole made behind them. The players then go about tenfeet from the hole, into which they try to roll a small piece, resembling the men used at draughts; if they succeed in putting it intothe hole, they win the stake; if the piece rolls between the pins, butdoes not go into the hole, nothing is won or lost; but the wager iswholly lost if the chequer rolls outside the pins. "

Morgan [Footnote: League of the Iroquois, p. 303. ] describes a wintercontest of skill among the Iroquois, which he calls snow-snake. Theso-called snakes were made of hickory. They were from five to seven feetin length, a quarter of an inch in thickness, tapering from an inch inwidth at the head to about half an inch at the tail. The head was round, turned up slightly and weighted with lead. This implement was shot alongthe snow crust, by hand, with great speed, and a point in the game wasgained by the snake which ran the greatest distance. When there were anumber of players divided into sides, if there were two, three or moresnakes of the same side which were in advance of the snakes of the otherside, all such counted. Such contests usually took place between tribesand aroused a great degree of spirit and the usual amount of betting. Insimpler form, Sagard Theodat describes this kind of amusement. 

OTHER AMUSEMENTS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN. 

Under the name of "_Fuseaux_, " La Potherie [Footnote: Vol. III, p. 24. ]describes a similar winter game of the children. He further says thewomen only played at platter or dice. The children played at lacrosse, seldom at platter. We have seen that the women in some parts of thecountry joined in the lacrosse games. Sometimes they played it bythemselves and sometimes they played other ball games which closelyresemble that game. Romans describes a woman's game in which they tossedup a ball which was to be caught before it reached the ground; but inthe meantime the one who tossed it had to pick up a small stick from theground. 

The women of the Natchez, [Footnote: Le Page du Pratz, Vol. III, p. 2, Domenech, Vol. II, p. 192. ] according to Le Page du Pratz, played withthree pieces of cane, each eight or nine inches long, flat on one sideand convex on the other with engravings on the convex side. Two wereheld in the open palm of the left hand and the third was dropped roundside down upon the ends of the two, so that all would fall to theground. If two convex surfaces came up the player won. He also says, and in this Romans concurs, that the women were very reluctant to beseen while playing. 

Among the Natchez, the young girls played ball with a deer-skin ballstuffed with Spanish moss. Other than that they seemed to him to haveno games. [Footnote: Le Page du Pratz, Vol. III, p. 2. ] The youngChoctaws, according to Romans, engaged in wrestling, running, heavingand lifting great weights and playing ball. Hennepin says, "thechildren play with bows and with two sticks, one large and one small. They hold the little one in the left, and the larger one in the righthand, then with the larger one they make the smaller one fly up in theair, and another runs after it, and throws it at the one who sprang it. They also make a ball of flags or corn leaves, which they throw in theair and catch on the end of a pointed stick. " Powers [Footnote:Contributions to North American Ethnology. Vol. III, p. 331. ] describesa game among the children of the Nishinams which consisted in tossingbunches of clover from one to another, and another in which the boysplaced themselves upon three bases and tossed a ball across from one tothe other. Points were won as in base ball by running bases, ifpossible, without being put out by the one who at the time had theball. The Choctaw [Footnote: Romans, p. 70, Bossu, Vol. I, p. 308. ]boys made use of a cane stalk, eight or nine feet in length, from whichthe obstructions at the joints had been removed, much as boys use whatis called a putty blower. The Zuni children are said to play checkerswith fragments of pottery on flat stones. [Footnote: The Century, Vol. XXVI, p. 28, Cushing. ]

Running matches, swimming, wrestling, the simple ball-games which arehinted at rather than described, practice in archery and hurling thespear or javelin, furnished the Indian youth with such amusements ascould be derived outside the contests in which his elders participated. Most of these latter were so simple as to be easily understood by thevery young, and we can readily comprehend how deeply the vice ofgambling must have been instilled in their minds, when they saw itinaugurated with such solemn ceremonials and participated in with suchfuror by their elders. 

Our information concerning the habits of the Indians comes from avariety of sources. Some of it is of very recent date, especially thatwhich deals with the Indians of the Pacific coast. The early Relationsof the French Fathers were faithful, and, as a rule, intelligentrecords of events which the priests themselves witnessed. The accountsof the French and Indian traders and travelers are neither as accuratenor as reliable as those contained in the Relations. Some of theseauthors faithfully recorded what they saw; others wrote to make books. They differ widely in value as authorities and must be judged upontheir individual merits. 

Much of our information concerning the manners and customs of thenatives of the Pacific coast is derived from the publications of ournational government. The reports which are collated in these documentsare from a great number of observers and are not uniform in character, but many of them have great value. As a whole, the work was well doneand in a scientific manner. 

The narration of the different games tells its own story. Lacrosse isfound throughout the country; platter or dice is distributed over anarea of equal extent; chunkee was a southern and western game; straws anorthern game with traces of its existence in the west; the guessinggame was apparently a western game. Everywhere, gambling prevailed tothe most shocking extent. 

There are writers who seek to reduce the impressions of theextravagance indulged in by the Indians at these games. The concurrenceof testimony is to the effect that there was no limit to which theywould not go. Their last blanket or bead, the clothing on their backs, their wives and children, their own liberty were sometimes hazarded;and if the chances of the game went against them the penalty was paidwith unflinching firmness. The delivery of the wagered wives, Lescarbottells us, was not always accomplished with ease, but the attempt wouldbe faithfully made and probably was often successful. Self-contained asthese people ordinarily were, it is not a matter of surprise that theweaker among them should have been led to these lengths ofextravagance, under the high pressure of excitement which wasdeliberately maintained during the progress of their games. [Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote relocated to chapter end. ] Fromone end of the land to the other these scenes were ushered in withceremonies calculated to increase their importance and to awaken theinterest of the spectators. The methods used were the same among theconfederations of the north and of the south; among the wanderingtribes of the interior; among the dwellers in the Pueblos; and amongthe slothful natives of the Pacific coast. 

The scene described by Cushing, where, at the summons of the "prayer-message, " the Zunis gathered upon the house-tops and swarmed in thePlaza, to hazard their property, amid prayers and incantations, upon aguess under which tube the ball was concealed, is widely different fromthat depicted by the Jesuit Fathers in Canada, where the swarthy Huronsassembled in the Council House at the call of the medicine man and inthe presence of the sick man, wagered their beads and skins, upon thecast of the dice. It differs equally from the scene which travellershave brought before our eyes, of the Chinooks, beating upon theirpaddles and moaning forth their monotonous chants, while gathered in aring about the player, who with dexterous passes and strangecontortions manipulated the stone and thus added zest to the guesswhich was to determine the ownership of the property staked upon thegame. The resemblances in these scenes are, however, far more strikingthan the differences. Climate and topography determine the one. Racecharacteristics are to be found in the other. 

[Relocated Footnote: The following extracts will illustrate thesepoints: They will bet all they have, even to their wives. It is true, however, that the delivery of the wagered women is not easy. They mockthe winners and point their fingers at them (Lescarbot, Vol. III, p. 754); all that they possess, so that if unfortunate, as sometimes hashappened, they return home as naked as your hand (Lalemant, Relation, 1639); their goods, their wives, their children (Ferland Vol. I, p. 134); some have been known to stake their liberty for a time(Charlevoix, Vol. III, 319); have been known to stake their libertyupon the issue of these games, offering themselves to their opponentsin case they get beaten (Catlin, Vol. I, p. 132); I have known severalof them to gamble their liberty away (Lawson, p. 176); a CanadianIndian lost his wife and family to a Frenchman (Sagard Theodat, Histoire du Canada, Vol. I, p. 243); they wager their wives (A. Colquhon Grant, Journal Royal Geog. Soc. , London, Vol. XXVII, p. 299);their wives and children (Irving's Astorla, Vol. II, p. 91); theirliberty (Parker's Journal of an Exploring Tour, pp. 249-50); Domenechhas never known men to bet their wives (Vol. II, p. 191); women bet aswell as men (Romans, p. 79; Am. Naturalist, Vol. XI, No. 6, 551);Philander Prescott (Schoolcraft, Vol. IV, p. 64); Cushing (Century, Vol. XXVI, p. 28); the liberty of a woman wagered by herself (Lalemant, Relation 1639); women are never seen to bet (Le Page du Pratz, Vol. III, p. 2; Mayne Br. Col. , p. 276); rash gambling sometimes followed bysuicide (Romans p. 79; Brebeuf, Relation 1686). ]