CULIN] STICK GAMES: PUYALLUP 251 
This year the sing gamble was held in the barn of Jake Tai-ugh, commonly 
known as Charley Jacobs, whose place is 4 miles from Tacoma. At the begin- 
ning of the sing gamble, 67 old men and women, many of them wrinkled, many 
of them gray-headed, gathered at Jake’s big barn, which had been cleared of all 
hay, grain, and other stores. 
On the ground, which serves as a floor, were laid two mats woven from straw 
and weeds and flags. Each of these mats was 3 feet wide and 6 long. Be- 
tween the mats was a space of about 3 feet. “Around these squatted the serious 
gamblers of the ancient races, many of them wearing brilliantly colored 
blankets, others arrayed in combination costumes picked up at the reservation 
or in the town.. As a necessary preparation to the game, the drummers, one for 
each tribe, took positions in front of their drums, made of horsehide drawn over 
one end of a stout frame 2 feet and 6 inches deep. Beating heavily on these 
drums with sticks, the sound is similar to that from a bass drum, save that it 
is more sonorous, and is readily heard at a distance of half a mile. As the 
drums beat the Indians begin their chants or wails, the men shouting “ Hi-ah, 
hi-ah, hi-ah,” and the women moaning an accompaniment between the shouts of 
their braves, sounding something like this: “*Mm-uh, mm-uh, mm-uh.” 
The players gather around the mats, seven being permitted on each side. 
One mat is for the Puyallup, the other for the Black Rivers. The dealer for 
each side sits at the head of his mat, fingering deftly ten wooden chips, about 
2 inches in diameter and a quarter of an inch thick. Nine of these are of the 
same color, but the tenth is different in color, though similar in shape and 
dimensions. The shuffler handles the chips rapidly, like an experienced faro 
dealer playing to a big board. He transfers them from one hand to another, 
hides them under a pile of shavings made from the cedar bark growing close to 
the sap, resembling much the product called excelsior, He divides the chips 
into two piles of five each, and conceals each pile under the shavings. Mysteri- 
ously he waves his hands forward and backward, crosswise, and over and over, 
making passes like the manipulations of a three-card monte dealer. The drum 
keeps up its constant beat; the Indians at the mats and those looking on with 
interest glap their hands and stamp and chant in time to the drum. 
Now is the time for the Indian assigned to guess to point to one of the two 
piles. The game is entirely one of chance, there being no possible means for 
the closest observer to detect in which pile the dealer places the odd-colored chip. 
It is the custom of the game, however, for the guesser to ponder for some time 
before deciding which pile to select. This adds interest and excitement to the 
speculation. Finally he decides, and with his finger points to one of the piles. 
The dealer rolls the chips across the mat to the farther end. If the guess is 
right the side for which the guesser is acting scores 1 point. If the guess is 
wrong the tribe to which the dealer belongs scores a point and the other side 
takes the innings—that is to say, the deal. John Towallis was captain of the 
Puyallup team, and is now the most popular man in the tribe on account of the 
remarkable victory of his side after the session of nearly a month, and also on 
account of the quantity and value of the pot. Captain Jack, the leader of the 
unsuccessful Black River team, proved a thorough sport; for, in addition to his 
contribution to the stake of his tribe, he staked and lost his greatest treasure, a 
big knife; his principal decoration, shiny brass rings, all his money ($60), his 
watch, his rifle and his harness, his buggy, and his horse. He adyised his com- 
panions on the team to bet everything they had, except their canoes. He insisted 
that they should keep those in order that they might have some way to get home. 
He was not so careful of himself as of them, for he had to walk when the time 
came. Some of the men and the squaws who paddled home in their canoes felt 
