cuLIN] DICE GAMES 45 
as existing among 130 tribes belonging to 30 linguistic stocks, and 
from no one tribe does it appear to have been absent. 
The essential implements consist, first, of the dice, and, second, 
of the instruments for keeping count. The dice, with minor excep- 
tions, have two faces, distinguished by colors or markings, and are 
of a great variety of materials—split canes, wooden staves or blocks, 
bone staves, beaver and woodchuck teeth, walnut shells, peach and 
plum stones, grains of corn, and bone, shell, brass, and pottery disks. 
They are either thrown by hand or tossed in a bowl or basket, this 
difference giving rise to the two principal types of the game. Both 
are frequently found among the same tribe, and the evidence goes to 
show that the basket-dice game, which is most commonly played by 
women, is a derivative from the game in which the dice are thrown 
by hand. In the latter the dice are cast in a variety of ways—tossed 
in the air against a hide or blanket, struck ends down upon a stone 
or a hide disk, struck ends down upon a stone held in the hand, or 
allowed to fall freely upon the earth or upon a hide or blanket. 
There are many variations in the method of counting, but they 
can all be divided into two general classes—those in which the score 
is kept with sticks or counters, which pass from hand to hand, and 
those in which it is kept upon a counting board or abacus. In the 
first the counters are usually in multiples of ten, infrequently of 
twelve, and vary from ten up to one hundred and twenty. They com- 
monly consist of sticks or twigs, and, from the fact that arrows are 
employed by some tribes and that many others use sticks bearing 
marks that may be referred to those on arrow shaftments, they may 
be regarded as having been derived from arrows, for which the 
game may have originally been played. The game terminates when 
one of the opposing sides wins all the counters. The counting board 
or abacus consists either of stones placed in a square or circle upon 
the ground, of a row of small sticks or pegs, or of an inscribed cloth, 
hide, stone, or board. It is almost invariably arranged in four divi- 
sions, consisting of ten places each, the number of counts in the cir- 
ewit varying from forty to one hundred and sixty. In connection 
with the counting board, men, or pieces, frequently known as 
“horses,” are used to indicate the positions of the several players. 
It is an invariable rule that when a man, or piece, falls upon a place 
occupied by a man of an opponent, the latter piece is said to be killed, 
and is sent back to its starting place. The number of players varies 
from two, one on each side, up to an indefinite number, depending 
upon those who desire to take part. Two or four are most com- 
mon, the spectators betting upon the result. Both men and women 
participate in the dice games, but usually apart. In their ceremonial 
forms these are distinctively men’s games. As mentioned in the 
