128 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 195 



The widespread bowl dice game was known to the Ponca. J. O. 

 Dorsey (1890, p. 617) gives an origin legend for the game in which 

 Ukiaba (?), "a tribal hero of the Ponca," sends five plum stones, the 

 counters in the game, to a young woman he has seduced, afterward 

 telling her "Keep the plum stones for gambling. You shaU always 

 win." The game was played only by persons of the same age and sex. 

 Two players made up a side. Five marked plum stones were placed 

 in a shallow wooden bowl and this bowl was struck against a pillow. 

 Certain combinations of marked stones indicated a winner. (Dorsey, 

 1884 a, pp. 334-335.) 



Another game of chance, the well-known moccasin game, was 

 also played by the Ponca. A player from one side hid a stone under 

 one of four moccasins, singing all the while to distract the opposing 

 players. A member of the opposite side then guessed the location of 

 the stone. PLC, who described the game, had seen it played only 

 once, when he was a small boy. 



Very similar to the moccasin game is the hand game, a variant of 

 which is still popular with the Southern Ponca. Two players from 

 one side hide two pieces in their hands while a member from the 

 opposing side attempts to guess their location. The present form of 

 the game, which came to the Ponca from the Pawnee in connection 

 with the Ghost dance, is described by Lesser (1933) in "The Pawnee 

 Ghost Dance Hand Game." The game still has religious overtones 

 for the older Ponca, and imtil fairly recently the gaming implements 

 of a successful player were buried with him because his children 

 feared the waxube or "power" which they carried. 



It is very common for a Southern Ponca family or organization to 

 sponsor a hand game in honor of a visitor from some other tribe. 

 The various donations made by losers during the game are then 

 presented to this visitor as a mark of esteem. 



PLC, LMD, and Parrish Williams all told the same origin legend 

 for the old, pre-Ghost dance, hand game. A Ponca war party of 

 about 20 warriors left to raid an enemy tribe. Months passed, but 

 no word of the departed men reached their anxious relatives. Finally 

 they were presumed to have been ambushed and were given up for 

 dead. 



A year or two later a young Ponca was hunting in the region where 

 the war party had disappeared. Night fell and he wrapped himself 

 up in his robe and went to sleep. In his sleep he began to dream. 

 A wolf howled four times, each time coming closer. Finally it was 

 only a few feet from him. The wolf spoke to the young hunter, 

 telling him that the missing war party was nearby. The wolf then 

 taught the young man a medicine song and vanished. 



The young man rose and walked in the direction the wolf had indi- 

 cated. He saw a light in the distance, and as he came nearer he 



