INDIAN GAMES. 135 



perienced men, frequently grey heads, two for each party, 

 squatting on their knees on opposite sides of the fire. They 

 have before them a quantity of fine dry grass, and with 

 their hands in rapid and juggling motions before and be- 

 hind them, they roll up each piece of bone in a little ball 

 and the opposite party presently guess in which hand is 

 the marked bone. Generally only one guesses at a time, 

 which he does with the word 'tep' (marked one), and *wi' 

 (plain one). If he guesses right for both players, they 

 simply toss the bones over to him and his partner, and 

 nothing is scored on either side. If he guesses right for 

 one and wrong for the other, the one for whom he guessed 

 right is 'out', but his partner rolls up the bones for an- 

 other trial, and the guesser forfeits to them one of his 

 twelve counters. If he guesses wrong for both, they still 

 keep on and he forfeits two counters. There are only 

 twelve counters and when they have been all won over to 

 one side or the other, the game is ended." 134 Sometimes 

 the same game was played without going through the for- 

 mality of wrapping the pieces in grass, simply shaking 

 them in the hands as a preliminary for the guessing. 135 



A slightly different method prevails among the Indians 

 of Washington and northwestern Oregon. Ten disks of 

 hard wood, each about the diameter of a Mexican dollar 

 and somewhat thicker, are used. "One of these is marked 

 and called the chief. A smooth mat is spread on the 

 ground, at the ends of which the opposing players are 

 seated, their friends on either side, who are provided with 

 the requisites for a noise as in the other case. The party 

 holding the disks has a bundle of the fibres of the cedar 



114 Powers in Contributions to Xprth American Ethnology, Vol. in, pp. 90-152; 

 189-332. 



MS Contributions to North American Ethnology, Vol. in, 332 ; Alexander Ross'a 

 Adventures, pp. 308, 309. 



