cuLIN] DICE GAMES: PAWNEE 101 
Set of six plum-stone dice (figure 109), three small, burned black on 
one side, and three large, with a light longitudinal curved band 
with seven dots on one side, reverses plain; accompanied by a 
flat basket of twined rattan, 9 inches in diameter. Collected by 
Dr George A. Dorsey. 
In the tale of Scabby Bull, Doctor Dor- 
sey describes the marking of a set of 
six magic plum stones for the woman’s 
game: 
One of the stones had a new moon pictured 
on it, and a little black star on the decorated 04996000 
side. The next stone bore a half moon in black. 
The next stone was decorated with a full 
moon; the next one had upon it one great star, = 
which reached from one point of the stone to 
the other. The next stone had two stars = 
painted upon it, while the last one had seven = 
stars painted upon it. According to the people, = = 
the man took the stones outside, held them up, = SS 
and through the power of the moon and stars pig 198. Peach-stone dice, basket, and 
the stones were painted black. counters; diameter of basket, 8}. 
inches; length of counters, 12 inches; 
In reply to a letter addressed by the Pawnee Indians, Oklahoma; cat. no. 
writersto Dr George Bird Grinnell, of 51%: ¥ield Columbian Musoum. 
New York City, he kindly wrote the following account of what the 
Pawnee call the seed game: 
I have seen this game played among the Pawnee, Arikara, and Cheyenne, and 
substantially the same way everywhere. The Pawnee do not use a bowl to 
throw the seeds, but hold them in a flat 
wicker basket about the size and shape 
of an ordinary tea plate. The woman 
who makes the throw holds the basket 
in front of her, close to the ground, 
gives the stones a sudden toss into the 
air, and then moves the basket smartly 
down against the ground, and the stones 
: fall into it. They are not thrown high, 
ee Dear ensure dices Heme madiang, but the movement of the basket is 
Oklahoma; cat. no. 70721, Field Columbian 
Museum. 7: quick, and it is brought down hard on 
the ground, so that the sound of the 
slapping is easily heard. The plum stones are always five in number, blackened 
and variously marked on one side. The women who are gambling sit in a line 
opposite to one another, and usually each woman bets with the one sitting 
opposite her, and the points are counted by sticks placed on the ground between 
them, the wager always being on the game and not on the different throws. 
It is exclusively, so far as I know, a woman’s game. 
Z. M. Pike? says: 
The third game alluded to, is that of la platte, described by various travelers, 
* Traditions of the Skidi Pawnee, p. 285, New York, 1904. 
>’ An account of an Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi, Appendix to part 2, 
p. 16, Philadelphia, 1810. 
