dbms] thk assiniboin 567 



Gambling 



Most of their leisure time either by night or by day among all 

 these nations is devoted to gambling in various ways, and such is 

 their infatuation that it is the cause of much distress and poverty 

 in families. For this reason the name of being a desperate gambler 

 forms a great obstacle in the way of a young man getting a wife. 

 Many quarrels arise among them from this source, and we are well 

 acquainted with an Indian who a few years since killed another, 

 because after winning all he had he refused to put up his wife to 

 be played for. Every day and night in the Soldiers' Lodge not oc- 

 cupied by business matters presents gambling in various ways all 

 the time; also in many private lodges the song of hand gambling 

 and the rattle of the bowl dice can be heard. Women are as much 

 addicted to the practice as men, though their games are different, 

 and, not being in possession of much property, their losses, although 

 considerable to them, are not so distressing. The principal game 

 played by men is that of the Bowl or Cos-soo', which is a bowl made 

 of wood with a flat bottom, a foot or less in diameter, the rim turned 

 up about 2 inches, and highly polished inside and out. A drawing 

 and description of the arithmetical principles of this game is now at- 

 tached in this place. (PI. 72.) The manner of counting therein men- 

 tioned is the manner in which we learned it from the Indians, but the 

 value of each of the articles composing the dice can be and is changed 

 sometimes in default of some of them being lost and again by 

 agreement among the players in order to lengthen or shorten the 

 game or facilitate the counting. However, the best and most ex- 

 perienced hands play it as it is represented. It can be played be- 

 tween two or four, that is, either one on each side or two against two. 

 The game has no limit, unless it is so agreed in the commencement, 

 but this is seldom done, it being usually understood that the players 

 continue until one party is completely ruined. 



The bowl is held by the tips of the four fingers inside the rim 

 and the thumb underneath. The dice being put in, they are thrown 

 up a few inches by striking the bottom of the bowl on the ground, 

 so that each counter makes several revolutions. It is altogether a 

 game of chance and no advantage can be taken by anyone in mak- 

 ing the throws. The counters or dice never leave the bowl but are 

 counted as the value turns up. One person having shaken it and the 

 amount of his throw having been ascertained a requisite number (if 

 small sticks are placed before him, each stick counting 1. In this 

 way the game is kept, but each keeps his adversary's game, not his 

 own; that is, he hands him a number of sticks equal to the amount 

 of his throw, which are laid so that all can see them. Each throws 

 in turn unless the big claw stands on end, in which case the person 



