CHESS AND PLAYING-CARDS. 725 



honesey, rago, rago ; which signifies calling for white or black, or what 

 they wish to turn up; then they turn the bowl and count the whites 

 and blacks." 



Iroquois. Western Pennsylvania and southern New York. 

 Loskiel ' gives the following account : 



The Indians arc naturally given to gambling, and frequently risk their arms, 

 furniture, clothes, and all they possess to gratify this passion. The chief game of 

 the Iroquois and Delawarcs is dice, which indeed originated with them. The dice 

 are made of oval and llattish plum-stones, painted black on one and yellow on the 

 other side. Two persons onlj^ can play at one time. They put the dice into a dish, 

 which is raised alternately by each gambler and struck on the table or floor with 

 force enough to make the dice rise and change their position; when ho who has the 

 greater nixmber of winning color counts five, and the first who has the good fortune 

 to do this eight times wins the game. The spectators seem in great agitation during 

 the game, and at ev(^ry chance that appears decisive cry out with great vehemence. 

 The gamblers distort their features, and if unsuccessful mutter their displeasure at 

 the dice and the evil spirits who prevent their good fortune. Sometimes whole 

 townships, and even whole tribes, i^lay against each other. One of the missionaries 

 happened to be present when two Iroquois townships, having got together a number 

 of goods, consisting of blankets, cloth, shirts, linen, etc., gambled for them. The 

 game lasted eight days. They assembled every day, and every inhabitant of each 

 township tossed the dice once. This being done, and the chance of each person 

 noted down, thej- parted for the day. But each township offered a sacriiice in the 

 evening to insure success to their party. This was done by a man going several 

 times around a tire, throwing tobacco into it, and singing a song. Afterwards the 

 whole company danced. When the appointed time for the game was at an end they 

 compared notes, and the winner bore away the spoil in triumph. 



]\IOHAWK. New York. 



Bruyas ' in his radical words of the Mohawk language, written in 

 the latter part of the seventeenth century, gives under Atnenha^ 

 "Noyau" (stone of a fruit), tlie compounds TSatnenJiaSinneton, "jouer 

 avec les noyaux comme sont les femmes, en les jettant la main," and 

 T8atenna8eron, "y jouer au plat." 



Onondaga. New Y^ork. 



Kev. W. M. Beauchamp ' states : 



Among the Onondaga now eight bones or stones are used, black on one side and 

 white on the other. Tliey term the game Ta-yoii-ni/nn-wdl-hah or, " Finger Shaker," 

 and from one hundred to three hundred beans form the pool, as may be agreed. 

 \\'ith them it is also a household game. In playing this the pieces are raised in the 

 liand and scattered, the desired result being indifferently white or black. Essen- 

 tially the counting does not differ from that given by Morgan (see p. 726). Two 

 white or two black will have six of one color, and these count two beans, called 

 O-ijii-ha, or the Bird. The player proceeds until he loses, when his opponent takes 

 iiis turn. Seven white or black gain four beans, called O-nt'o-sah, or Pumpkin. All 

 white or all black gain twenty, called 0-hen-tah, or a Field. These are all that 

 draw anything, and we may indifferently say with the Onondaga, two white or black 



'George Henry Loskiel, History of the United Brethren, London, 1794, I, p. 106. 

 '■iRev. Jacques Bruyas, Radices verborum Iroqua'orum, New York, 1863. Cited 

 by Andrew McFarland Davis, Bulletin of the Essex Institute, XVIII, p. 185. 

 •'Iroquois games, Journal of American Folk Lore, IX, p. 269. 



