cULIN] HAND GAME: UMATILLA 305 
is called by the trappers, is a small splint of wood or other diminutive article, 
that may be concealed in the closed hand. This is passed backwards and for- 
wards among the party “in hand,” while the party “ out of hand” guess where it 
is concealed. To heighten the excitement and confuse the guessers, a number of 
dry poles are laid before each platoon, upon which the members of the party * in 
hand ” beat furiously with short staves, keeping time to the choral chant already 
mentioned, which waxes fast and furious as the game proceeds. As large bets 
are staked upon the game, the excitement is prodigious. Each party in turn 
burst out in full chorus, beating and yelling and working thentselves up into 
such a heat that the perspiration rolls down their naked shoulders, even in the 
eold of a winter night. The bets are doubled and trebled as the game advances, 
and all the worldly effects of the gamblers are often hazarded upon the position 
of a straw. 
Nez Percés. Lapwai reservation, Idaho. (Cat. no. 60447, Field 
Columbian Museum.) 
Four bones (figure 398), 3 inches in length, highly polished and 
yellow with age, two with a leather band one-half inch wide. 
The bones are hollow and resemble a shaft of a human femur. 
These were collected by Dr George A. Dorsey, who gives the native 
name as lokhom. 
— Southern Alberta. 
Rev. John Maclean “@ says: 
The Nez Percés have a game which I have oftentimes seen played among the 
Blackfeet, although not in the same fashion, which is guessing with a small 
piece of wood. Instead of a single pair, as among the 
Blackfeet, the Nez Percés arrange themselves in two 
parties, sitting opposite to each other, and a small 
piece of wood is passed from hand to hand of the 
other party, the members of which guess, until when 
rightly guessed, they become the possessors of the 
article. While the game is in motion, the parties and 
those not engaged in the game are betting, and some 
of these bets are quite large. Meanwhile the contest- 
ants sing a weird chant, beating on any article with 
short sticks which will produce a noise. Singing, Regn eome Honea foe’ band 
beating time, guessing, rolling and swaying the body, game; length, 3 inches; Nez 
in a continual state of excitement, the game proceeds —- Percé Indians, Idaho}; cat. 
until the one party defeats the other members op- 2°: 6447, Field Columbian 
posed to them. The onlookers, whites and Indians, Es 
become deeply interested in the game, and share in the excitement, watching it 
eagerly, and animated by the furious motions of the parties in the game. 
Umatimia. Umatilla reservation, Oregon. (Cat. no. 37536, 37537, 
Free Museum of Science and Art, University of Pennsyl- 
vania.) 
Four bone cylinders (figure 399), three-fourths of an inch in diam- 
eter and 3 inches in length, slightly tapering to ends, two 
«Canadian Savage Folk, p. 42, Toronto, 1896. 
24 ErH—05 M 20 
