262 GAMES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS [ETH. Ann. 24 
I obtained the following account of the game from Henry Moody. my inter- 
preter in Skidegate. 
The two players sat opposite each other, each generally provided with a nun- 
ber of sets of gambling sticks, so that if one brought him no luck he might use 
another, just as white men change packs of cards. The person first handling 
the sticks then laid his set out in front of himself, and rapidly selected one set 
of sticks, i. e., one set having similar markings on them, along with the djil, or 
trump. He rolled them up in shredded cedar bark and separated them into two 
bundles, which he laid down, one on either side of him. The other player then 
had to guess in which bundle the djil lay; and if successful, it was his turn to 
play. If he was unsuccessful, his opponent scored one point, and played as before, 
selecting a second set of sticks. A very skilful manipulator might divide his 
sticks into four bundles instead of two, in which case the opponent was entitled 
to select two out of them. One man might lose continually and the other gain 
up to seven points, and these points (or some of them) received different names 
entirely distinct from the ordinary numerals, first, second, third, etc. Thus the 
sixth point was called ma’gan; and the seventh, qo’ngu. After one person had 
reached qgo’ngu an eighth count, called sqAl, had to be scored. The game for this 
score was played in the following manner: Four bundles were made of one stick 
each, the djil and three other sticks being used. The guesser was allowed to 
pick out three of these, and the player won only in case the fourth bundle 
contained the djil. Otherwise, they began all over again; and on this last 
count the chances were so greatly in favor of the guesser that they are said 
often to have played all Gay without either side winning. 
The method of reaching count seven was as follows: After one player had 
made three points the other was obliged to make ten instead of seven—three 
to score off his opponent’s points, and the usual seven points besides. And so 
in other cases the player had to catch up with his partner before starting to 
make his seven. . 
The gambling sticks had separate names, most of them bearing those of 
animals. While many sets are marked exclusively with red and black marks, 
the more elaborate ones are ornamented with representations ‘of the animal 
figures whose names they bear. i 
In Marchand’s Voyage * we find: 
Surgeon Roblet remarked that the natives of Cloak Bay have a sort of passion 
for gaming. They are seen carrying everywhere with them thirty small sticks, 
three or four inches in length by about four lines in diameter ® with which 
they make a party, one against one, in the following manner: Among the sticks 
there is one distinguished from all the others by a black circle. One of the play- 
ers takes this single stick, joins to it another taken from among the twenty-nine 
common ones, mixes the two together without seeing them, and then places 
them separately under a bit of cloth. ‘That which the adversary chooses, 
merely by pointing it out, is mixed without looking at it, with all the others, 
and the adversary wins or loses, if the stick confounded in the mass, in case 
it happens to be the only stick, is a shorter or longer time in coming 
out. I admit that I do not see the finesse of this game; perhaps it is ill ex- 
plained because it has been ill understood. I presume, however, that it may be 
«A Voyage round the World Performed during the Years 1790, 1791, and 1792, by 
Etienne Marchand, vy. 1, p. 299, London, 1801. 
> These little sticks are very nicely wrought, perfectly round and of a beautiful polish ; 
the wood of which they are made appears to be a species of wild plum-tree. It is hard 
and ‘compact although very light. 
