132 INDIAN GAMES. 



OTHER GAMES OF CHANCE. 



There was diversity in the forms of the games of simple 

 chance as well as in the athletic games, and besides those 

 which have been already described, the Indians on the Pa- 

 cific Coast had a great variety of games, or forms of the same 

 game, in which, in addition to the element of chance in- 

 volved in determining the numbers or positions of certain 

 sticks or counters, there was also an opportunity for the 

 player who was manipulating them to deceive by dexter- 

 ous sleight of hand. The simplest form in which this is 

 found is guessing in which hand a small stone or bone is 

 held. It would hardly seem that this artless effort could 

 be transformed into an amusing and exciting game ; j^et 

 it has attracted the attention of all travellers, and scarcely 

 any writer, who treats of the habits of the Pacific coast In- 

 dian, fails to give a full account of this simple game. 

 Lewis and Clarke, '^^ when writing about the Indians near 

 the mouth of the Columbia, say : "The games are of two 

 kinds. In the first, one of the company assumes the oflSce 

 of banker and plays against the rest. He takes a small 

 stone, about the size of a bean, which he shifts from one 

 hand to another with great dexterity, repeating at the 

 same time a song adapted to the game and which serves 

 to divert the attention of the company, till having agreed 

 on the stakes, he holds out his hands, and the antagonist 

 wins or loses as he succeeds or fails at guessing in which 

 hand the stone is. After the banker has lost his money 

 or whenever he is tired, the stone is transferred to another, 

 who in turn challenges the rest of the company.^-' In the 



''"'Lewis and Clarke, Vol. II, 140; and also II, 94. 



"' See also, Adventures on the Columbia River, by Ross Cox. p. l.")8; The Ore- 

 gon Territory, by John Dunn, p. 93 ; Four Years in British Columbia, by Command- 

 er R. O. May ne, p. ■27.1 ; it was played by the Comanches In Texas with a bullet, 

 Robert S. Neighbors in Schoolcralt, Vol. II, p. 133; by the Twanas with one or 

 two boues, Bulletin U. S. Geol. Survey, Vol. Iii, Ho. 1, p. Sil, liev. M. Eels. 



