120 INDIAN GAMES. 



iimong the Coquelles and Makneatanas, the pasteboards 

 being bundles of sticks." He furnishes no description of 

 the games, but uses the same phrase which was applied by 

 Lawson in North Carolina and by Boucher in Canada. 



Frank H. Cushing^* speaks of a game of " Cane-cards " 

 among the Zuui which he says "would grace the most 

 civilized society with a refined source of amusement." He 

 was not able fully to comprehend it. 



In the list of games, there is none of which we have 

 any detailed account, which compares with straws as 

 played by the northern tri))es, in elaborateness of con- 

 struction. The unfortunate confusion which prevails 

 throughout Perrot's description of the method of counting, 

 and the way in which the point was shirked l)y all other 

 writers on the subject, prevents any attempt at analysis. 

 So far as we can see, the rules were arbitrary and not 

 based upon any calculations of the laws of chance. If 

 some other detailed account of the game should be discov- 

 ered it would be mterestiug to follow up this question 

 and ascertain how far the different combinations which 

 affected the counts were based ui)on a theory of proba])ili- 

 ties and how far they were arbitrary. 



It will of course be noticed that the game described by 

 Lawson was relieved from much of this complication. 

 The dexterity required to make a throw of such a nature 

 that the player could tell exactly the number of reeds 

 with which he had parted, was of course remarkable aud 

 naturally called forth expressions of surprise. But there 

 were apparently no other combinations resting upon the 

 thr5w than the simple guess at the number thrown. Trav- 

 ellers in California have described the game in still sim- 

 pler form in which we see hints of the more complex 



'«Tlic Century, Vol. xxvi, p. 3S. My Adventures in Zuui. 



