cuLIN] STICK GAMES: HURON 241 
seat themselves, three on each side of the mat, facing one another; this done, 
one of the players takes up the ten palettes, shuffling and shifting them in his 
hands, when at a signal given he separates them in his two fists, and throws 
them out on the mat towards his opponent, and according as the palettes roll, 
slide, or lie on the mat when thrown, the party wins or loses. This he does 
three times successively. In this manner each tries his skill in turn, till one 
of the parties wins. Whole days and nights are spent in this game without 
ceasing, and the Indians seldom grumble or repine, even should they lose all that 
they possess. During the game the players keep 
chanting a loud and sonorous tune, accompanying the 
different gestures of the body just as the vyoyageurs 
keep time to the paddle. 
COPEHAN STOCK 
Winnrwen. California. (Cat. no. 19338, ry¢.397. stick game; length 
United States National Museum.) of sticks, 3} inches; Win- 
nimen Indians, California; 
Ten willow twigs (figure 327), 34 inches in cat. no.19338, United States 
length, nine with bark entire length and — National Museum. 
one with band of bark removed in the middle. 
Collected by Mr Livingston Stone, who describes them as used in 
a woman’s game. 
TROQUOIAN STOCK 
Huron. Ontario. 
Nicolas Perrot * says of le jeu des pailles: 
The savages lose at the game of straws not only their own property, but also 
the property of their comrades. To play the game, they procure a certain 
number of straws or twigs of a certain plant, which are no thicker than the cord 
of a salmon net. They are made of the same length and thickness, being about 
10 inches long. Their number is uneven. After turning and mixing them in 
their hands, they are placed on a skin or blanket rug, and he who plays first, 
having an alaine or, more often, a small pointed bone in his hand, contorts his 
arms and body, saying chok! chok! at frequent intervals. These words mean 
nothing in their language, but serve to make known their desire to play well 
and with good luck. Then he pushes the little pointed bone into the pile of 
straws and takes as many as he wishes. His opponent takes those that remain 
on the rug and rapidly counts them by tens, making no errors. He who has the 
odd number of straws wins. 
Sometimes they play with seeds which grow in the woods and which are a 
little like small haricots. They take a certain number of them each, according 
to the value of the goods wagered, which may be a gun, a blanket, or in fact 
anything, and he who at the beginning of the game holds nine straws wins 
everything and takes all that has been wagered. If he finds that he holds an 
odd number less than nine, he is at liberty to increase his bets to any extent he 
pleases. This is why in one part of the game he invests, as he pleases, one 
straw and in another part three, five, or seven, for nine is always supposed; 
it is the number that wins against all the others, and he who at last finds that 
he holds nine straws generally takes everything that has been wagered. At the 
* Mémoire sur les Meurs, Coustumes et Relligion des Sauvages de l’'Amériqre Septen- 
trionale, p. 46, Leipzig, 1864. 
16 
24 ETH—05 M 
