254. 
The value of the throws as played were: : 
Virst throw (tap) 3 white dice and 5 red, 1 count. 
Second throw, 4 white dice and 4 red, a draw. 
Third throw, 8 red dice and 0 white, 40 counts. 
Fourth throw, 2 white dice and 6 red, 4 counts. 
Fifth throw, 1 white dice and 7 red, 20 counts. 
I watched this game till one of the players who had sold some hay fer 
$180 the day before was staking a handful of nails on the game. 
Turning from this game, I heard a vigorous drum tap in one of the houses 
and on entering the house I feund several Indians playing the Moccasin 
Game. It is a curious affair and resembled our “‘shell game” in many re- 
spects. A blanket was spread on the floor and on it in front of the player 
were four inverted moccasis. The player had four bullets in his hand, one 
of which was marked and was the winning bullet. As the winners sang, 
this actor (player), to disconcert his opponents, shrugged his shoulders, 
waved his hands and went through various contortions and slight-of-hand 
performances, as he slipped one bullet after another under a moceasin. 
When all had been placed, the guessing then began. An opponent went 
through various preliminaries with a long stick to see if he could detect 
from the action of the hider of the bullets under which moccasin he had hid 
the marked bullet. Then with this stick he struck the moccasin under which 
he thought the marked bullet was hid. Sometimes he won and got the moc- 
casins and the bullets, and his opponents began to guess. Each time the 
guesser failed to guess right, he lost a tally count. Forty tally counts gave 
the winner the game. 
While watching this moccasin game, my attention was attracted. to a 
deep sounding drum beat beyond a little raise of ground. So I repaired 
to the spot from whence the sound came. There I saw the medicine fra- 
ternity initiating a ‘‘subject’ into the medicine lodge, called ‘“Medawin” 
(lodge) by the Indians. The medicine ceremonies were being held in a long 
drawn-out wigwam of 100 feet or more in length, a wigwam all but naving 
the bark roof on it. I went close to the lodge and saw the peopte eating 
puppy soup with a relish. And soon thereafter the dance was begun, or 
rather resumed, as they had been dancing previous to the dog-feast period. 
Two old men began to chant in the minor key, while both beat a crude 
drum. As soon as the chant reached a fairly high pitch, the dancers began 
to line up in column style, the “navitiate’ heading the column. The dance 
was a forward movement encircling the central space of the lodge, the 
movement being a tripping, gliding dance. As each one thus danced, he 
waved some medicine trophy in each hand, usually the skin of a bird or 
some animal. As they thus waved the medicine things, they gave forth 
peculiar utterances in grunting style and glided, tripped on. 
As I was watching this dance, I noticed that through the center of the 
lodge longitudinally there were hung blankets and much bright colored 
calicos, the navitiate’s price to join the order. And at the close of the cere- 
mony, I noticed further that the medicine men took these medicine gifts 
up themselves, as a price of their services. 
