288 GAMES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS _[2ETH. Ann. 24 
stake put up by his vis-a-vis. A handful of willow sticks, 3 or 4 inches long, 
and from a dozen to a score in number, are thrust in the sand or soft earth 
between the two rows of squatting gamblers, and by means of these a sort of 
running record or tally of the game is kept. The implements actually employed 
in gambling are merely a couple of small bone bobbins, as shown [in figure 371], 
of about the size of a lady's penknife, one of which has one or more bands of 
black cut around it near its center and is called the king, the other being pure 
white. At the commencement of the game one of the players picks up the bone 
bobbins, changes them rapidly from one hand to the other, sometimes behind 
his back, then again under an apron or hat resting on his lap, during all of 
which time the whole assembly are singing in a low measured melody the 
words, “Oh! oh! oh! Oh, ker-shoo, ker-shoo!* which is kept up, with their 
elbows flapping against their sides and their heads swaying to the tune. until 
some player of the opposite row, thinking he is inspired, and singing with 
unusual yehemence, suddenly points out the hand of the juggler that, in his 
belief, contains “the king.” If his guess is correct, his team picks up one of 
the willow sticks and places it on their side, or if the jug- 
gler’s team has gained, any one of their sticks must be re- 
(ia) placed in the reserve at the center. If he is wrong then, the 
other side tallies one in the same way. The bone * king and 
(irae queen ” are then handed to an Indian in the other row and 
Fi@. 371. Bones for the same performance repeated, although it may be twice as 
hand game; length, Jong, or half as short. as no native attempts to discern the 
2inches; Chilkat In- % =, tne mn : : - 
didtis Alaska font whereabouts of the “ king” until he feels he has a revelation 
Schwatka: to that effect, produced by the incantation. A game will last 
anywhere from half an hour to three hours. Whenever the 
game is nearly concluded and one party has gained almost all the willow sticks, 
or at any other exciting point of the game, they have methods of “ doubling up ” 
on the wagers by not exchanging the bobbins, but holding both in one hard or 
leaving one or both on the ground under a hat or apron, and the zuesses are 
about both and count double, treble, or quadruple, for loss or gain. They 
wager the caps off their heads, their shirts off their backs, and with many of 
them, no doubt, their prospective pay for the trip was all gone before it was 
half earned. 
Again, he says:? 
Another article freely brought to us was the pair of small bone gambling 
tools so characteristic of the whole northwest country. They have been 
described when speaking of the Chilkat Indians, and I saw no material differ- 
ence in their use by this particular tribe. 
Turnerr. Alaska. (Cat. no. 
tory.) 
Set of four bones (figure 372), solid and very old and stained, 1% 
inches in length, not entirely round, but with a raised strip on 
one side. On two this strip has a fluted edge, ornamented with 
four circles, with interior dots. One of these is plain and the 
others are cut to receive a band in the middle. One has a plain 
strip with two circles with interior dots and is perforated at one 
end, and the fourth a strip cut away at the sides near the ends, 
,=.. American Museum of Natural His- 
b O05 
2 Along Alaska’s Great River, p. 227, New York, 1885. 
