cuLtn] DICE GAMES: THOMPSON 157 
SoneisH. Vancouver island, British Columbia. 
Dr Franz Boas* gives the following account: 
Smeétale’, a game of dice, is played with four beaver teeth, two being marked 
on one of their flat sides with two rows of small circles. They are called 
women, sla’naé smétalé’. The two others are marked on one of the flat sides 
with cross lines. They are called men, suwé'k’a smétalé’. One of them is tied 
with a small string in the middle. It is called ink: ak: ’é sen. The game is 
played by two persons. According to the value of the stakes, 30 or 40 sticks 
are placed between the players. One begins to throw. When all the marked 
faces are either up or down, he wins 2 sticks. If the faces of the two men are 
up, of the two women down, or vice versa, he wins 1 stick. When the face of 
the ink’ ak*’é sen is up, all others down, or vice versa, he wins 4 sticks. Who- 
ever wins a stick goes on playing. When one of the players has obtained all the 
sticks he wins the game. 
It is considered indecent for women to look on when the men gamble. Only 
when two tribes play against each other are they allowed to be present. They 
sing during the game, waving their arms up and down rhythmically. Men and 
women of the winning party paint their faces red. 
TxHomeson. British Columbia. (Cat. no. s4%, American Museum 
of Natural History.) 
Set of four beaver-teeth dice (figure 18+) ; one, partly split, wrapped 
in sinew; marked on one face with lines and dots, the opposite 
sides plain. Collected by Mr James Teit. 
The following account is given by the collector: ° 
Women played a game of dice with beaver teeth, which were tossed down on 
a spread blanket or skin by the player. Each tooth was marked on only one 
side with carved lines or spots. 
One, called the man, was marked 
with eight transverse lines and 
tied around the middle with a 
piece of sinew. Its mate was 
marked with five transverse lines, 
each having a dot in the middle. 
The other two were mates, and 
were each marked alike with a \ a 
eertain number of triangular lines. % 
When the dice were thrown, if all 
the blank sides or if all the faces 
came up, it counted 2 points for Fic. 184. Beaver-teeth dice; length, 1} inches; 
i Thompson Indians, British Columbia; cat. no. 
the thrower; if a triangular- dfs, American Museum of Natural History. 
marked die came face up and all 
the others face down, 14 points; if the dotted one fell face up and the other 
three face down, 8 points; if the man turned face up and the rest face down, 
4 points. If the dice fell any other way than as indicated above, it counted 
nothing, and the opposite party took their turn to throw. If a tooth fell on its 
edge, it was taken up and let fall to see on which side it would turn. This game 
is still played by some women, but not nearly as much as it was eight or tep 
years ago. 
*Second General Report on the Indians of British Columbia. Report of the Sixtieth 
Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, p. 571, London, 1891. 
>The Thompson Indians of British Columbia. Memoirs of the American Museum of 
Natural History, v. 2, p. 272, New York, 1900. 
