CULIN] HAND GAME: CHINOOK 281 
thanksgiving, as indeed I was informed that it was. The song lasted for 
perhaps ten minutes, when those present began conversing in low tones, which 
very soon became more animated, and they began to leave the lodge and assem- 
ble on the south side of the lodge at a level space cleared of all vegetation, 
where they gathered in one great circle. The large drum was then brought 
out by one of the leaders, who held it toward the sun, uttered a prayer, and 
again all sang a song, which was of the same general character as the one just 
described. The drum was then returned to its former position just outside 
the lodge. Five of the older men now began a distribution of food, consisting 
of meat, bread, and coffee, to all those present, and the ceremony was at an end. 
The contrast between this sedate and dignified performance and the loud, 
boisterous, weird all-night performances, such as are conducted, for example, 
by the Kootenays, was profound, and no one could have witnessed this game 
without becoming convinced that a deep religious significance underlies at least 
one of the games of the American aborigines. 
Wicuira. Oklahoma. 
In the story of “ The Thunderbird and the Water Monster,” as 
related by Dr George A. Dorsey,” the hand game is described as the 
great gambling game of the people of these times. The wagers were 
generally large, people sometimes betting their lives and weapons, 
in the former case the winners taking the lives of the losers. 
CHIMMESYAN STOCK 
Niska. Nass river, British Columbia. 
Dr Franz Boas ” describes the following game: 
Leha’l: the guessing game, in which a bone wrapped in cedar-bark is hidden 
in one hand. The player must guess in which hand the bone is hidden. 
CHINOOKAN STOCK 
Curinook. Shoalwater bay, Washington. 
James G. Swan ° says: 
Another game is played by little sticks or stones, which are rapidly thrown 
from hand to hand with the skill of experienced jugglers, accompanied all the 
while by some song adapted to the occasion, the winning or losing the game 
depending on being able to guess correctly which hand the stick is in. This 
game can be played by any number of persons and is usually resorted to when 
the members of two different tribes meet, and is a sort of trial of superiority. 
Before commencing the game the betting begins, and each article staked is 
put before the winner, and whoever wins takes the whole pile. 
Curnoox. Near Fort Vancouver, Washington. 
Paul Kane? says: 
The one most generally played consists in holding in each hand a small stick, 
the thickness of a goose quill and about an inch and a half in length, one plain 
“The Mythology of the Wichita, p. 102, Washington, 1904. 
» Fifth Report on the Indians of British Columbia. Report of the Sixty-fifth Meeting of 
the British Association for the Advancement of Science, p. 582, London, 1895. 
¢The Northwest Coast, p. 158, New York, 1857. 
¢ Wanderings of an Artist among the Indians of North America, p. 189, London, 18593 
also the Canadian Journal, y, iii, no. 12, p. 276, Toronto, July, 1855. 
