THE "UUTTON GAME 



1009 



been already described. Each party has a •• button," that of one side 

 being painted black, the other being red. The leader of one party takes 

 the button and endeavors to move it from one hand to the other, or to 

 pass it on to a partner, while those of the opposing side keep a sharp 

 lookout, and try to guess in which hand it is. Those having the button 

 try to deceive their opponents as to ir^ whereabouts by putting one 

 hand over the other, by folding their arms, and by putting their hands 

 behind them, so as to pass the </<(>iiit<i on to a partner, all the while 

 keeping time to the rhythm of a gaming chorus sung by the whole 

 party at the top of their voices. The song is very peculiar, ami well' 

 nigh indescribable. It is usually, but not always or entirely, unmean- 

 ing, and jumps, halts, and staggers in a most surprising fashion, but 

 always in perfect time with the movements of the hands and arms of 



tin 1 singers. The greatest of g 1-uatured excitement prevails, and 



every few minutes some more excitable player claps his hands over his 

 mouth or beats the ground with his flat palms, and gives out a regular 

 war-whoop. All this time the opposing players are watching the hands 

 of the other, or looking straight into their faces to observe every tell 

 tale movement of their features, and when one thinks he has discovered 

 in which hand the button is, he throws out his thumb toward that hand 

 with a loud "that!" Should he guess aright, his side scores a certain 

 number of tallies, and in turn takes the button and begins another 

 song. Should the guess be wrong, the losing side must give up an equiv- 

 alent number of tally sticks. So the play goes on until the small hours 

 of the night. It is always a gambling game, and the stakes are 

 sometimes very large. 



The first line of the song here given is an imitation of one of these 

 gambling songs. Among the prairie tribes each song has one or per 

 haps two words with meaning bearing on the game, the rest of the 

 song being a succession of unmeaning syllables. Among some other 

 tribes, particularly among the Navaho, as described by Dr "Washington 

 Matthews, the songs have meaning, being prayers to different animal 

 or elemental gods to as^st the player. 



As specimens of another variety of gambling songs, we give here 



two heard among the Paiute of Nevada when visiting the messiah in 



the winter of 1891-92. They have pretty tunes, very distinct from 



those of the prairie tribes, and were borrowed by the Paiute from 



the Mohave, in whose language they may have a meaning, although 



unintelligible to the Paiute. 



Paiute gambling song 



Allegro vivace. 



