210 



BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 53 



No. 104. Moccasin Game Song (b) (Catalogue No. 397) 

 Sung by E^niwub^e 



Voice J= 100 

 Drom J— 104 



( Drum-rhythm similar to No. 10) 



-•- -<9- r^ 







Si 





It 





3z3= 



I 



Analysis. — This song was said to be sung alternately with the one 

 next preceding and was so recorded on the phonograph cylinder. 

 The rhythm of the two songs forms a sequence, the first being agitated 

 and irregular and the second confident and emphatic but closing 

 with a rhythm resembling that of the first. This ending gives unity 

 to the group. The drum has the same metric unit in the two songs, 

 but the voice is faster in the second song. (See Nos. 100, 101; 121, 

 122; also No. 168.) The structure of both songs is characterized 

 by the compass of an octave and the interval of the fourth. (See 

 No. 22.) 



The Moccasin Game 



This game is frequently played by the Chippewa at the present 

 time, but has ceased to be a serious occupation and has become a 

 mere diversion. The days are past when men sought success in 

 dreams and lost or won fortunes in a day. Yet many of the charac- 

 teristics of the game remain unchanged. In July, 1910, the writer 

 saw a party of Chippewa from Bear Island playing the moccasin 

 game with a party from the Leech Lake Agency. One side had won 

 11 games and the other had not won a single game, yet from the faces 

 of the players it was impossible to tell who had won and who had 

 lost. Additional games were scored without change of countenance 

 by the winners, while the losers met continued defeat with equal 

 stoicism. 



The following incident indicates the manner in which the game 

 was formerly regarded : • 



It is said that one of the most successful players of the game at Leech Lake in the 

 early days obtained the secret of his success from his wife, who returned to him in a 

 dream after death. He had been a gambler for many years before her death and had 

 been fairly successful, but after she died he met with nothing but failure until finally 

 he lost everything. In despair he went into the woods to fast and "dream." After a 



