evi] STICK GAMES: CHILKAT 243 
that he has gained by taking up the seeds wagered, watching out that his 
opponent does not do so. If one of them thinks that the straws were not 
properly counted, they are handed to two of the spectators to count, and the 
winner, without speaking, strikes his straws and takes the stakes. 
All this takes place without dispute and with much good faith. You will 
notice that this is not at all a woman’s game and that it is only the men who 
play it. @ 
Huron. Ontario. 
Bacqueville de la Potherie? says: 
They have another game which consists of a handful of straws, the number 
of which is, however, limited. They separate first this handful in two, making 
certain gestures, which only serve to increase the interest in the game, and in it, 
as in bowl, they strike themselves heavily upon the naked skin on the shoulders 
and on the chest. When they have separated the straws, they retain one portion 
and give the other to their companions. One does not easily understand this 
game, your lordship, at sight. They seem to play odd and even. 
Father Louis Hennepin © says: 
They also often play with a number of straws half a foot long or thereabouts. 
There is one who takes them all in his hand; then, without looking, he divides 
ihem in two. When he has separated them, he gives one part to his antagonist. 
Whoever has an even number, according as they have agreed, wins the game. 
They have also another game which is very common among little children 
in Europe. They take kernels of Indian corn or something of the kind; then 
they put some in one hand and ask how many there are. The one who guesses 
the number wins. 
Baron La Hontan @ says: 
They have three sorts of games. Their game of counters is purely numerical, 
and he that can add, subtract, multiply, and divide best by these counters is the 
winner. 
KOLUSCHAN STOCK 
Curmxat. Alaska. (United States National Museum.) 
Cat. no. 46487. Thirty-four cylindrical wood sticks, part of three 
sets, ten 4% inches, fifteen 574; inches, and nine 53 inches in 
length, all marked with black and red ribbons. Collected by 
Commander L. A. Beardslee, U. S. Navy. 
Cat. no. 67909a. Set of fifty-seven cylindrical bone sticks, 44} inches 
in length and five-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, with a hole 
drilled near one end for stringing; all engraved with fine encir- 
cling lines. One is set with a rectangular strip of abalone shell 
and one with a rectangular piece of ivory, having another hole, 
similarly shaped, from which the ivory has been removed. Six 
@ Rey. J. Tailhan, who edited Perrot’s manuscript, after referring to Lafitau’s statement 
that Perrot’s description of this game is so obscure that it is nearly unintelligible, says 
that he has not been more successful than his predecessors, and the game of straws 
remains to him an unsolyed game. (Notes to chap. 10, p. 188.) 
> Histoire de l’ Amérique Septentrionale, v. 3, p. 22, Paris, 1723. 
¢ A Description of Louisiana, p. 301, New York, 1880. 
4 New Voyages to North-America, vy. 2, p. 18, London, 1703. 
