706 



KEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



three, tliere was uo coimt; six and two counted four; seven and one, 

 ten; and all eight of tbe same color, twenty. Davis remarks tliat 

 "according to Kasles, the count was sometimes kept by thrusting 



Fig. 27. 



COUNTING STICKS. 



Length, 8 to 8| inches. 

 Micniac Indians, New Brunswick. 



Cat. No. 50804, Peabody Museum of American Archftology. 



sticks into the ground. This is shown by Indian words used in the 

 games which Rasles interprets respectively: '1 thrust a stick in the 

 ground to mark the games;' 'I win a game from him; I i)lace a stick,' 

 etc.; 'He takes the mark for a game away from lue; he removes a 



stick,' etc.; 'He takes away all my marks; he re 



moves them all," etc. 



Ojibwa. 



Tanner 1 describes the game as follows, under 

 the name of Bugga-sanlc or Beg-ga-sali: 



Fig. 28. 



BONE DIE USED IN BOWL 



GAME (all tes-teg-etiuk) . 



Passamaquodtly Indians, 



Maine. 



After drawing by Mrs.W.W. Brown, 



The heg-ffa-sah-nuk are small pieces of wood, boiie, or 

 sometimes of brass, made by cutting up an old kettle. One 

 side tbey stain or color black, tbe other they aim to have 

 bright. These may vary in number, but can never be fewer 

 than nine. They are put together in a large wooden bowl 

 or tray kept for the purpose. The two parties, sometimes 

 twenty or thirty, sit down opposite to each other or in a 

 circle. The play consists in striking the edge of the bowl 

 in such a manner as to throw all the heg-ga-sali-nuTi into the air, and on tbe manner 

 in which they fall into the tray depends his gain or loss. If his stroke has been to 

 a certain extent fortunate, the player strikes again and again, as in the game of 

 billiards, until he misses, when it passes to the next. 



The Eev. Peter Jones- says: 



In these bowl plays they use plum-stones. One side is burnt black and the other 

 is left its natural color. Seven of these plums are placed in a wooden bowl and are 

 then tossed up and caught. If they happen to turn up all white, or all black, they 

 count so many. This is altogether a chance game. 



'A Narrative of the Captivity and Adventures of John Tanner, New York, 1830, 

 p. 114. 



'^History of the Ojibwa Indians, Loudon, 1861, p. 135. 



