INDIAN GAMES. 143 



pressure of excitement which was deliberately maintained 

 during the progress of their games. 151 From one end of 

 the land to the other these scenes were ushered in with 

 ceremonies calculated to increase their importance and 

 to awaken the interest of the spectators. The methods 

 used were the same among the confederations of the north 

 and of the south ; among the wandering tribes of the 

 interior ; among the dwellers in the Pueblos ; and among 

 the slothful natives of the Pacific coast. 



The scene described by Gushing, where, at the sum- 

 mons of the " prayer-message," the Zum's gathered upon 

 the house-tops and swarmed in the Plaza, to hazard their 

 property, amid prayers and incantations, upon a guess 

 under which tube the ball was concealed, is widely dif- 

 ferent from that depicted by the Jesuit Fathers in Canada, 

 where the swarthy Hurons assembled in the Council 

 House at the call of the medicine man and in the presence 

 of the sick man, wagered their beads and skins, upon the 



m The following extracts will illustrate these points: They will bet all they 

 have, even to their wives. It is true, however, that the delivery of the wagered 

 women is not easy. They mock the winners and point their fingers at them 

 (Lescarhot, Vol. Ill, p. 754); all that they possess, so that if unfortunate, as some- 

 times has happened, they return home as naked as your hand (Lalemant Relation, 

 1639); their goods, their wives, their children (Ferland Vol. I, p. 134); some have 

 been known to stake their liberty for a time (Charlevoix, Vol. in, 319) ; have been 

 known to stake their liberty upon thje issue of these games, offering themselves to 

 their opponents in case they get beaten (Catlin, Vol. I, p. 132); I have known sev- 

 eral of them to gamble their liberty away (Lawson, p. 176); a Canadian Indian lost 

 his wife and family to a Frenchman (Sagard Theodat, Histoire du Canada Vol. i, 

 p. 243); they wager their wives (A. Colquhon Grant, Journal Royal Geog. Soc., 

 London.Vol. xxvn, p. 299) ; their wives and children (Irving's Astoria, Vol. II, 

 p. 91); their liberty (Parker's Journal of an Exploring Tour, pp. 249-50); Dome- 

 nech has never known men to bet their wives (Vol. n, p. 191); women bet as well 

 as men (Romans, p. 79; Am. Naturalist, Vol. xi, No. 6, 551); Philander Prescott 

 (Schoolcraft, Vol. iv, p. 64); Gushing (Century, Vol. xxvi, p. 28); the liberty of a 

 woman wagered by herself (Lalemant, Relation 1639); women are never seen to 

 bet (Le Page du Pratz, Vol. in, p. 2; Mayne Br. Col., p. 276); rash gambling some- 

 times followed by suicide (Romans p. 79; Brebenf, Relation 1636). 



