1002 



THE GHOST-DANCE RELIGION 



ETH. ANN. 14 



shell is really a figurative expression for skull. In the old days t lie 

 whole buffalo head was used, instead of the mere skull 



111. HlSK III, HISE III 



Hise hi. hise hi, 

 HU'tine'baku'tha na, 

 Ha/tine'baku'tha na, 

 Hati'ta-u'seta'na, 

 Hati'ta-u'seta'na. 



Translation 



My comrade, iny comrade, 

 Let us play the im 1 game, 

 Let ns play the ;iwl game, 

 Let us play the dice game, 

 Let us play the dice game. 



The woman who composed this song- tells how, on waking up in the 

 spirit world, she met there a party of her former girl companions and 

 sat down with them to play the two games universally popular with 

 the women of all the prairie tribes. 



The first is called n&baku'thana by the Arapaho and tsona or "awl 

 game" ( from tsoii, an awl) by the Kiowa, on account of an awl, the Indian 

 woman's substitute for a needle, being used to keep record of the score. 



The game is becoming obsolete 

 in the north, but is the everyday 

 summer amusement of the wo- 

 men among the Kiowa, Coman- 

 che, and Apache in the southern 

 plains. It is very amusing on 

 account of the unforeseen ''riv- 

 ets" and "whips" that are con- 

 stantly turning up to disappoint 

 the expectant winner, and a 

 party of women will frequently 

 sit around the blanket for half 

 a day at a time, with a constant 

 ripple of laughter and good- 

 humored jokes as they follow 

 the chances of the play. It 



(stove. \ 



15*1 



In, 95 I liagn i -i" I garni 



would make a very pretty picnic game, or could readily be adapted to 

 the parlor of civilization. 



The players sit upon the ground around a blanket marked in char- 

 coal with lines and dots, and quadrants in the corners, as shown 

 in figure 95. In the center is a stone upon which the sticks are 

 thrown. Each dot, excepting those between the parallels, counts a 

 point, making twenty-four points for dots. Each of the parallel lines, 

 and each end of the curved lines in the corners, also counts a point, 



