1892-93] NOTES ON THE WESTERN DEN^S. 113 



and from which the name of the game is derived would, considered in 

 itself, be classed among the objects which shall form the subject matter 

 of our next chapter. 



Fig. loi. 



This is a sort of open work disk or wheel made principally of willow 

 bark strings, though the frame of the hoop is composed of three or four 

 switches very closely fitting each other and kept in position by a strong 

 lacing of strips of bark. Radiating from the axis, or heart as it is called,, 

 are four cords of similar material stretched so as to form a cross (fig. loi). 



As this was formerly the great national game of the Carriers, I may 

 be pardoned for giving its rules somewhat in full. 



A team of five or six men was matched against another of presumed 

 equal force, and after each player had been provided with a given number 

 of pointless arrows, the disk was set wheeling away by one team to the 

 cry of tlcp ! tlcp ! . This was the signal for the other to shoot at it while 

 it was in motion. Should they fail to hit it, it was returned rolling to 

 the first team so as to give them an equal chance of making at it with 

 their arrows. As soon as the disk had been shot, the real competitive 

 game commenced. The arrows which had hit it, two, three or more,, 

 became the stake for the rival team to win over. For this purpose the 

 disk was hung up a short stick planted in the ground near the team who 

 had succeeded in sending home the arrows, and it was aimed at succes- 

 sively by each member of the opposite party. Should any one be lucky 

 enough to shoot it with his first arrow, the stake played for became his 

 irrevocable property. When the target was hit, but on a subsequent 

 attempt of the marksman, the stake was thereby won over, subject to its 

 being redeemed by any member of the opposing team performing the 

 same feat. In this case the game became a draw ; the wheel was set 

 rolling anew, and the nature of the stake was determined as in the first 

 instance. 



