108 GAMES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS _[f&TH. ANN. 24 
or silver coin, because they do not know the use of it, since in trade they barter 
one thing for another. 
I must not forget to mention that in some of their villages they play what 
we call in France porter les momons, carry the challenge. They send a chal- 
lenge to other villages to come and play against them, winning their utensils, 
if they can, and meanwhile the feasting does not stop, because at the least 
inducement the kettle is on the fire, especially in winter time, at which time they 
especially feast and amuse themselves in order to pass the hard season 
agreeably. 
Father Louis Hennepin “ says in describing games of the Indians: 
They have games for men, for the women, and for the children. The most 
common for men are with certain fruits, which have seeds black on one side 
and red on the other; they put them in a wooden or bark platter on a blanket, 
a great coat, or a dressed-skin mantle. There are six or eight players. But 
there are only two who touch the platter alternately with both hands; they 
raise it, and then strike the bottom of the platter on the ground, by this shaking 
to mix up the six seeds, then if they come five red or black, turned on the same 
side, this is only one throw gained, because they usually play several throws 
to win the game, as they agree among them. All those who are in the game 
play one after another. There are some so given to this game that they will 
gamble away even their great coat. Those who conduct the game cry at the 
top of their voice when they rattle the platter, and they strike their shoulders 
so hard as to leave them all black with the blows. 
The Baron La Hontan ® says: 
Another game which is hazard and chance is perform’d with eight little 
stones, which are black on one side and white on the other. They’re put on 
a plate which they lay on the ground, throwing the little stones up in the air, 
and if they fall so as to turn up the black side, *tis good luck. The odd number 
wins, and eight whites or blacks wins double, but that happens but seldom. 
Mare Lescarbot ° says: 
I will add here, as one of the customs of our savages, games of chance, of 
which they are so fond that sometimes they bet all they have; and Jaques Quar- 
tier writes the same of those of Canada at the time he was there. I have seen 
one sort of game that they have, but not then thinking to write this I did not 
pay much attention to it. They place a certain number of beans, colored and 
painted on one side, in a platter, and having spread a skin on the ground, 
play upon it, striking the platter on the skin and by this means the before- 
mentioned beans jump into the air and do not all fall on the colored part, and 
in this is the hazard, and according to the game they have a certain number 
of stalks of rushes which they distribute to the winner in order to keep score. 
Jean de Brébeuf @ says: 
The game of dish is also in great renown in affairs of medicine, especially 
if the sick man has dreamed of it. The game is purely one of chance. They 
play it with six plum stones, white on one side and black on the other, in a 
dish that they strike very roughly against the ground, so that the plum stones 
leap up and fall, sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other. The game 
«A Description of Louisiana, p. 300, New York, 1880. 
> New Voyages to North-America, v. 2, p. 18, London, 1708. 
© Histoire de la Nouvelle France, p. 788, Paris, 1609. 
4 Relation of 1636. The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, v. 10, p. 187, Cleve- 
land, 1897. 
