188 GAMES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS  [eTH. ann. 24 
on one side, and white or unmarked on the other, while two have each a star 
on one side and a moon on the other. The players must always be of the same 
sex and class; that is, men must play with men, youths with youths, and women 
with women. There must always be an even number of players, not more 
than two on each side. There 
are about twenty sticks used as 
counters. These are made of 
deska or of some other grass. 
The seeds are put into a bowl, 
which is hit against a pillow and 
not on the bare ground, lest it 
Fig. 245. Plum-stone dice (a, obverse; b, reverse); Should break the bowl. When 
diameter, | inch; Omaha Indians, Nebraska; cat. three seeds show black and two 
no. IV B 2228, Berlin Museum fiir Vélkerkunde. 
have the moon on the upper 
side it is 2 winning throw; but when one is white, one black, the third black 
(or white), the fourth showing a moon, and the fifth a star, it is a losing throw. 
The game is played for small stakes, such as rings and necklaces. 
Figure 245 represents a set of plum stones from the Omaha, col- 
lected by Miss Alice C. Fletcher. Two have a star on one side and a 
crescent moon on the other, the device being in white on a burnt 
ground, and three are white or plain on one side and black on the other. 
They are accompanied by a hemispherical bowl made of*walnut, 12 
inches in diameter, of perfect form and finish, and by about one hun- 
dred slips of the stalks of the blue-joint grass, about 12 inches in 
length, used as counters. 
Osacr. Missouri and Arkansas. 
John D. Hunter ® says: 
In common, they merely burn on one side a few grains of corn or pumpkin 
seeds, which the stakers alternately throw up for a suc- 
cession of times, or till one arrives at a given number ‘@) © Q) 
first; that is, counting those only that show of the 
requisite color when he wins. © 
A very similar game is played with small flat pieces of © 
wood or bone, on one side of which are notched or burnta =F 1e@. 246. Brass dice; Osage 
oe oe oe - . oy eee 2 Indians, Oklahoma; cat. 
greater or less number of marks, like the individual faces 2 : A 
= : : ‘7 mS nee no. 59097, Field Colum- 
of a die. It is played and counted like the preceding. bian Museum. 
— Osage reservation, Oklahoma. (Cat. no. 59097, Field Colum- 
bian Museum.) 
Six dice, heads of small brass tacks (figure 246), one with a hole 
punched through the center, all with the inside painted red; 
diameter, one-fourth of an inch; accompanied by a flat wooden 
bowl, 94 inches in diameter. Collected by Dr George A. Dorsey. 
Ponca. Nebraska. 
According to a Ponea legend published by Dr J. Owen Dorsey,? 
the plum-stone game was invented by Ukiaba, a tribal hero of the 
* Manners and Customs of Several Indian Tribes Located West of the Mississippi, p. 
276, Philadelphia, 1823. 
>The GZegiha Language. Contributions to North American Ethnology, v. 6, p. 617, 
Washington, 1890. 
