182 GAMES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS _ [nru. any. 24 
The seeds used are those of the wild plum of the Dakotas, indigenous through- 
out the northwest region of the United States. They are seven in number. 
On one side they are all perfectly plain and of the natural color, except some 
fine marks on four to distinguish them when the burnt sides are down, but 
on the reverse side of all there are burnt markings. These markings are made 
by a piece of hot iron, such as a nail, the blade of a knife, or a piece of hoop 
iron. Before the natives used iron they used a hot stone. Six of the seeds are 
in pairs of three different kinds, and only one is of a different marking from « 
all the others. One pair is scorched entirely on one side; another pair has an 
unburnt line about 2 millimeters wide traversing their longitudinal convexity, 
the remainder of their surfaces on that side being scorched; the remaining pair 
have one-half of one side burnt longitudinally, the other side of the same 
unburnt, but traversed by three small burnt lines equidistant, about 1 milli- 
meter wide, running across their short axes. The remaining and only single 
seed has an hourglass figure burnt on one side, the contraction in the figure 
corresponding to the long diameter of the seed. They are all of the s»me size, 
about 16 millimeters long, 12 wide, and 7 thick, and are oval, having the out- 
lines and convexity on each side of a diminutive turtle shell. When the 
Sioux first obtained our ordinary playing cards they gave to them, as well 
as to the game, the name kansu, because they were used by the whites and 
themselves for the same purpose as their original kansu. The men do not 
use the seeds or the original kansu now, but they substitute our cards. 
The women, however, do use the game at the present time. When a ration 
ticket was issued to them, they gave it the name of kansu, because it was 
a ecard; so also to a postal ecard, business card, or anything of the description 
of a card or ticket; a railroad, street-car, milk, store, or circus ticket would 
be called a kansu; so that the evolution of this term as applied to a ticket is 
a little interesting. 
The description of the game kansu, as related by the Sioux, is as follows: 
Any number of persons may play, and they call the game kansu kute, which liter- 
ally means to shoot the seeds. When two persons play, or four that are partners, 
only six of the seeds are used, the hourglass, or king kansu, being eliminated. The 
king is used when a number over two are playing and each one for himself. The 
three-line seeds are called sixes, the one-line fours, those that are all black tens. 
When two play for a wager they each put sixteen small sticks, stones, corn, peas, 
or whatnot into a common pile between them, making in all 32. The play 
begins by putting the seeds into a small bowl or basket and giving it a quick 
upward motion, which changes the positions of the seeds, then letting them fall 
back into the receptacle, care being taken not to let any one fall out. The 
markings that are up decide the throw, precisely on the principle of our dice. 
As they count, they take from the pile of 32 what they make, and when the pile 
is exhausted, the one having the greatest number wins the game. If all the 
white sides are up, the throw counts 16. The two tens up and four whites 
count 16. Two pairs up count 6, and the player takes another throw. Two 
sixes down count 4. If both tens are down, either side symmetrically, it counts 
10. If all burnt sides are up, it is 16. If both fours are down, it is 6. If 
two pairs are up, it counts 2. One pair up does not count unless all the others 
are down. When more than two play, and each for himself, the king is intro- 
duced. If the king is up and all the others down, the count is 16. If they are 
all up, the count is the same. If two pairs are up, the count is 6. If the king 
is down and the remainder up, the count is 16. 
