CHESS AND PLAYING-CARDS. 



757 



sticks used as conntiTs. These are made of deska, or of some other grass. The 

 seeds are put in a bowl, which is hit against a pillow and not ou the bare ground, 

 lest it should break the bowl. When three seeds show black and two have the 

 moon on the upper side it is a winning throw, but when one is white, one black, the 

 third black (or white), the fourth showing a moon, and the fifth a star, it is a los- 

 ing throw. The gam(^ is played tor small stakes, such as rings and necklaces. 



Fig. 84 represents a set of ijluui-stones from the Omaha, collected by- 

 Miss Alice (J. Fletcher. Two have a star on one side and a crescent 

 iiioou on the other, the device being in white on a burnt ground, and 

 three white or plain on one side and black on the otlier. They were 

 accompanied by a hem;spheri(;al bowl made of walnut, V2 inches in 

 diameter, of ])erfect form and finish, and about one hundred slips of 

 the stalks of the blue Joint grass, about 12 inches in length, used as 

 counters. 



A 



B 



Fig. 84. 



SET OF PLUM STONES KOIi OAME. 



(A, obverse; B, rever.se.) 

 Diameter, J inch. 

 Omaha Iiitliaiia. 



In the possession of Miss Alii-e C. Fletcher. 



Dakota Sioux. South Dakota. (Cat. No. 153365, U.S.N.M.) 



Set of .seven plum-stones, plain ou one side and with marks burnt 

 upon the other. Collected by Dr. Z. T. Daniel,' who describes the game 

 as foUows under the name of Kansu: 



This is a very ancient game of the Sioux Indians, played usually by (dderly women, 

 although young women and men of all ages play it. Kansu is an abbreviation of 

 kanta hii, which means plum-see<l. They drop the ta and call the game lansu, because 

 it is played with plum-seeds. It is used for gambling and amusement and is more 

 like our dice than any other of our games. ^Yllen playing, the seeds are thrown up 

 in a basket or bowl and the markings on th(^ seeds that are up or down decide the 

 throw. 



The seeds used are those of the wild plum of the Dakotas and indigenous through- 

 out tiie northwest region of the United States generally. They are seven in number. 

 On one side they are all perfectly plain and of the natural color, except some fine 

 marks ou four to distinguish them when the burnt sides are down, but ou the reverse 

 side ol" all there are burnt markiTigs. Tiiese markiugs are made by a piece of hot 

 iron, such as a nail, the blade of a knife, or a piece of hoop iron. Before the natives 

 used iron they used a hot stone. Six of the seeds are in pairs of three ditferent 

 kinds, and only one is of a different marking from all the others. One pair is 



Kansu, a Sioux game, The American Anthropologist, V, p. 215. 



