nusHNELL] THE CHOCTAW OF BAYOU LACOMB, LOUISIANA 19 



Bows and arrows were formerly used, but for many generations the 

 Choctaw have been in possession of firearms obtained from the French, 

 the Spanish, and later from the Americans. 



Curiously enough the people at Bayou Lacomb do not care for 

 fish or fishing, although quantities of excellent fish could be taken from 

 the bayous and from Lake Pontchartrain. The Choctaw say they 

 formerly had fish traps in the bayous, but seem not to remember how 

 they were constructed. 



Games and Pastimes 



The Choctaw appear to have had rather few games of chance. 

 Among those described to the writer is one that closely resembles the 

 moccasin game of the Algonquian and other widely separated tribes 

 in America. This is said to have been played by the "old people" 

 and is probably one of the oldest Choctaw games. It was described 

 thus : 



Lake^lomi. — Twelve men were required in playing this game. They knelt or sat on 

 the ground in two rows, or "'sides," facing each other, six players in each row. Seven 

 hats were placed on the ground in a line between the two rows of players. 



The player who was to start the game and who was always at one end of his row held 

 in one hand a small stone or shot. With his other hand he raised all the hats in order, 

 placing under one of these the stone or shot; during the entire performance he sang a 

 particular song. After the stone or shot had been placed, the player sitting opposite 

 him guessed under which hat it lay. If he did not succeed in three guesses, the leader 

 removed the object and again hid it under either the same or another hat. ' Then the 

 second player on the opposite side had three guesses. If a player guessed under which 

 hat the object was hidden, he in turn became the leader. 



Unfortunately, those who described the game could not recall how the points were 

 counted. They agreed, however, that the side having the greater number of points 

 made by the six players combined, won. 



Another game of chance, one that seems to have been a favorite 

 and much played in this region, was — 



Tanje boska, or corn game. — This was played, the writer was informed, with either 

 five or seven kernels of corn blackened on one side. Holding all the grains in one hand, 

 the players tossed them on the ground, each player having three throws. The 

 one making the greatest number of points in the aggregate, won. Each "black" turned 

 up counted 1 point; all "white" turned up counted either 5 or 7 points, accord- 

 ing to the number of kernels used. Any number of persons could play at the same 

 time, but usually there were only two. 



Culin, who witnessed this game at Mandeville, some ten miles from Bayou Lacomb, 

 in 1901, described it as played with eight grains of corn;o hence it seems evident 

 that no regular number was employed. The count, as described by Culin, is also 

 somewhat different from that now followed at Bayou Lacomb. 



The ball game, played by many tribes throughout the country, was by far the most 

 important game of the Choctaw, but it has been described so often that mere mention 

 of it is all that is here required. For full information on the subject the reader is 

 referred to Doctor Culin's monograph, above cited, in which are brought together many 



a Stewart Culin, Games of the North American Indians, in Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Bureau 

 of American Ethnology, 146, 1907. 



