764 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1«96. 



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decides the "denoiniuatioi) " of the tbrow, and tlie different values are shown in 

 fi^. 89. Altbongb :it (irst Hnsli this might seem to make it a game of chance, noth- 

 ing couhl he farther from the truth. Indeed, no really aboriginal game is a true 

 game of chance ; the invention of that daugerous and delusive plaything was reserved 

 for civilized ingenuity. 



An expert pa-toJ player will tbrow the number be desires 

 Avitb almost unfailing certaiuty by bis arrangement of the 

 sticks in bis band and the manner and force with which be 

 strikes them down. It is a dexterity which any one may acquire 

 by sufHcient .i)ractice, and only thus. The tive-tbrow is deemed 

 very much the hardest of all, and I have certainly found it so. 

 According to tlie. number of bis throw the player moves bis 

 marker ;in equal number of stones ahead on the circle, using 

 one of the "rivers"' as a starting point. If the throw is five, 

 for instance, be lays bis "horse"' between the fourth and tifth 

 stones, and bands the pa-tol sticks to the next man. If bis 

 \ \ \ throw be ten, however, as the first man's first tbrow is very cer- 



tain to be, it lands bis horse in the second "river," and be has 

 another tbrow. The second man may make bis starting point 

 the same or another "river," and may elect to lun his "horse" 

 around the circle in the same direction that the first is going or 

 iu the opposite. If in the same direction, be will do bis best to 

 make a tbrow which will bring his "horse" into the same 

 notch as that of the first man, iu which case the first man is 

 "killed,"' and has to take bis "horse" back to the starting 

 point to try over again when be gets another turn. In case the 

 second nuiu starts in the opposite direction — which be will not 

 From i.uinmis. do uulcss au cxpcrt player — be has to calculate with a good deal 



of skill for the meeting, "to kill" and to avoid being "killed" 

 by No. 1. When be starts in the same direction as No. 1, be is behind, and runs no 

 chance of being "killed," wliile he has just as good a chance to kill. But if, even 

 then, a high throw carries him ahead of the first man — for 

 "jumping" does not count either way, the only "killing"' 

 being when two " horses " come iu the same notch — bis rear is in 

 danger, and be will try to run on out of the way of bis pursuer 

 as fast as possible. The more players the more complicated 

 the game, for each "horse "is threatened alike l)y foes that 

 chase from behind and charge from before, and the most skillful 

 player is liable to be sent back to the starting point several 

 times before the game is finished, which is as soon as one 

 "horse" has made the complete circuit. Sometimes the 

 players, when very young or unskilled, agree there shall be 

 no "killing;" but unless there is an explicit arrangement to 

 that effect, "killing'" is i;nderstood, and it adds greatly to the 

 interest of the game. 



There is also another variation of the game, a rare one, bow- 

 ever. In case the players agree to tbrow fifteens, all the pa-tol 

 sticks are made the same, except that one has an extra notch 

 to distinguish it from the others. Then the throws are as 

 shown in fig. 90. 



Fig. 89. 



COUNTS IN PA-TOL. 



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Fig. 90. 



COUNTS IN PA-TOL. 



From Lummis. 



Til reply to a letter of inquiry, Mr. Lummis writes 

 me that he distiuctly remembers having- witnessed this game at Isleta, 

 Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, and Taos (Tewan); at Acoma, 

 Ti tsi-a-ma, and Canada Cruz (Acoma colonies), Cochit:'', Laguna, El 

 Eito, Sandia, and San Felipe (Keresan), and Zuni. 



