90 BUEEAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 43 



part of the forehead with a iilaiik, so that when they shall have grown up they 

 may be in a better condition to bear all kinds of loads." 



Among the savages the men in general concern themselves only wilh war, 

 hunting, or fishing. Formerly they had for arms only the bow and arrow, but 

 now almost all are i)rovided with firearms, and they show much skill in using 

 them. Most of them are excellent hunters. Resides, our Frenchmen employ 

 them willingly to hunt for them during the winter. They give them for that 

 guns, powdei-, balls, lead, vermilion, Limhourg, kettles, and other articles of 

 merchandise, and in return these savages furnish them game of all kinds — 

 geese, ducks, bison, deer, etc. They also trade with them for bear's oil, as well 

 as dressed bear, bison, or deerskins, which they give them for other articles 

 of trade.'* 



The savage women are not less skillful nor less industrious than the men, and 

 are besides very laborious. Moreover, they are charged with all the details of 

 life and of the household. They are the ones who prepare the fields, sow them, 

 gather the liarvest, and prepare food for their husbands, who eat alone whenever 

 it pleases them, which hapi)ens very often. ^ 



Then follow detailed descriptions already given of the work done 

 by women in bringing in, cooking, and selling or drying game, rais- 

 ing chickens, making baskets, feather fans and mantles, and pottery, 

 spinning and weaving bison hair, bass bark, etc. 



GAINIES 



Next to the ball game to be described '* in connection with the har- 

 vest festival, the most important Natchez game was the chunkey 

 game, common to all southern tribes, Dumont speaks of it as 

 follows : 



The savages have still another kind of game in which they exercise them- 

 selves, not merely for amusement, but also to gain each other's property, to 

 the point of ruining themselves. This is what is called " the cross." This game 

 consists in throwing at the same time many poles 15 or 16 feet long and as thick 

 as the fist after a bowl which rolls on a well pounded and very smooth piece 

 of ground, such as is found in the center of each village. When the bowl stojis 

 that one whose pole is nearest this bowl wins the point. The play continues 

 as far as pocol6, that is 10, and the savages often ruin themselves, as I have 

 said, wagering on the game their powder, their guns, their skins, their Limhourg, 

 in a word, all that Jthey may have.*-' 



Dn Pratz describes it thus: 



The warriors of those nations have invented the game which is called " of 

 the pole," but should rather be named " of the cross," since this pole, which 

 Is 8 feet long, resembles in shape a letter "F" in roman characters. Only 

 two play this game, and each has a pole of the same kind. They have a 

 flat stone shaped like a wheel, beveled on the flat sides like the wheel of the 

 game of Siam. But it is only .3 inches in diameter and an inch thiclc The 

 first throws his stick and rolls the stone at the same time. The skill of the 



" Diiinont, Mem. Hist, snr L;\ Loiiisianp, I, 140-141. 



* Ibid., 145-146. 



<■ Ibid., 1. '51-1.52. 



Tp. 177, 119-120. 



« Dumout, Mlmu. Hist, sur L.a Louisiane, I, 202-203. 



