880 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



figure (fig. 189), divided into a large number of squares, is drawn upon 

 tlie rock, either by scratching or by using a different cohered stone as a 

 crayon. A diagonal line, tifh-hi-o-ta, is drawn across the rectangle from 

 northwest to southeast and the players station themselves at each end 

 of this line. When two parties play, a single person acts as player 

 and the other members of the party act as advisers. The first play is 

 won by tossing a leaf or corn husk with one side blackened. The pieces 

 which are used are beau or corn kernels, stones and wood, or small 

 fragments of any substance of marked color. The players were sta- 

 tioned at each end of the diagonal line, tuh-M-o-ta. They move their 

 pieces upon this line, but never across it. (On this line the game is 

 fought.) The moves which are made are intricate, and the player may 

 move one or more pieces successively. Certain positions entitle him to 

 this privilege. He may capture, or, as he terms it, kill one or more of 

 his opponents at one play. In this respect the game is not unlike 

 checkers, and to capture the pieces of the opponent seems to be the 

 main object of the game. The checkers, however, must be concentrated, 

 and always moved toward the southeast corner.^ 



This game is now rarely played on the East Mesa, but is still used at 

 Oraibi. It is said to have been played in ancient times by the sun and 

 moon or by other mythical personages. Figures of this game formerly 

 existed on the rocks near the village of Walpi, and may be the same 

 referred to by Bourke. 



Games resembling the above seem to have existed widely among the 

 American tribes. Mrs. W. W. Brown ^ gives the following account of 

 a game of the Wabanaki Indians : 



Ko-ko-nag'n has a resemblauce to the game of Checkers, but, although nearly all 

 are more or less proficient at the latter game, there are only a few who understand 

 ko-ko-nag'n. This, nulike any other game, may he played by male and female oppo- 

 nents. It is the least noisy, the skillful play requiring deliberation and undivided 

 attention. A smooth surface is marked off into different-sized spaces, and pieces of 

 wood, round and square, marked to qualify value, are generally used, though some- 

 times carved bone is substituted. 



This may be the game referred to by Easle among the Norridgewok 

 Indians, where he says: " Un autre jeu oh Von place des grains sur des 

 espece de lozanges entrelassees {dicitur) manmadoaiigaiU^ 



1 It would appear from Dr. Fewkes's sketch of the board that only one player 

 moved toward the southeast and that his opponent went in the opposite direction. 



- Some Indoor and Outdoor Games of the Wabanaki Indians, Trans. Roy. Soc. 

 Canada, sec. II, 1888, p. 41. 



