INDIAN GAMES. 117 



The speed with which this process of counting was car- 

 ried on was always a source of wonder to the lookers-on, 

 and the fact that the counting was done by tens is almost 

 invariably mentioned . Between two people betting simply 

 on the odd number no further rules were necessary. To 

 determine which had the heap containing the odd number, 

 there was no need to foot up the total number of tens. It 

 was to be settled by what was left over after the last pile 

 of complete tens was set aside. The number itself might be 

 either one, three, five, seven or nine. In the more compli- 

 cated form of the game, this led to giving different values 

 to these numbers, the nine being always supreme and the 

 one on which the highest bets were wagered. It was gen- 

 erally understood that the holder of this number swept the 

 board taking all bets on other numbers as well as those on 

 the nine. It was easy to bet beads against beads and skins 

 against skins, in a simple game of odd or even, but when 

 the element of different values for different combinations 

 was introduced, some medium of exchange was needed to 

 relieve the complications. Stones of fruit were employed 

 just as chips or counters are used in modern gambling 

 games, and a regular bank was practically instituted. 

 Each player took a certain number of these counters, as 

 the equivalent of the value of the merchandise which he 

 proposed to hazard on the game, whether it was a gun, a 

 blanket, or some other article. Here we have all the 

 machinery of a regular gambling game at cards, but the 

 resemblance does not stop here. The players put up their 

 bets precisely as they now do in a game of faro, selecting 

 their favorite number and fixing the amount, measured in 

 the standard of the game, which they wished to hazard. 

 " By the side of the straws which are on the ground are 

 found the (grains') counters," says Perrot, " which the 

 players have bet on the game." In another place, the 



