806 GAMES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS _ [B®TH. Ann. 24 
wrapped with a thong in the middle. Twenty willow counting 
sticks (figure 400), pointed at one end, 10 inches in length. 
These were collected by the writer in 1900. 
The bones are called tsko-ma; the marked one wa-lak-i-ki, and the unmarked 
wa-lak-i-kus. 
The game was observed by the author at the Fourth of July camp 
on the Umatilla reservation in 1900.¢ 
In the center of the open space was a large square pavilion built on posts, 
covered with green boughs, and sheltered on one side from the sun by young 
evergreen trees stuck in the ground. . . . The womensat in two rows facing 
each other, up and down one side of the lodge, the remaining space being occupied 
by groups of men playing cards and by spectators. The stakes, consisting of 
blankets, silk handkerchiefs, strings of glass beads, and money in considerable 
Fig. 400. 
Fig. 399. Bones for hand game; length, 3 inches; Umatilla Indians, Umatilla reservation, 
Oregon; cat. no. 37536, Free Museum of Science and Art, University of Pennsylvania. 
Fia. 400. Counting sticks for hand game; length, 10 inches; Umatilla Indians, Umatilla reser- 
vation, Oregon; cat. no. 37537, Free Museum of Science and Art, University of Pennsylvania. 
amounts were deposited in a pile between the rows. There were 12 women on 
each side. Four bones, about 3 inches long, two having a black band around the 
center and two plain, were manipulated by one of the youngest and most vigor- 
ous of the women who occupied the center on each side. The side holding the 
bones would sing and sway their arms and hands rhythmically in unison. The 
two sides sang different songs and not always the same one. The refrain was 
very pleasing. . . . The object seemed to be to guess which player along the 
line had the bones, the opposite side leader indicating her choice by a sudden 
sideway motion of her hand. The counts were kept with 20 sticks, each side 
having 10, which were stuck in the ground in two rows before the principal 
player. All the participants bet on the result, and at the close of the game, one 
or the other side having gained the entire 20 sticks, the winner would divide the 
winnings according to the individual bets. The game seemed interminable, first 
one side winning and then the other, and throwing over one or more willow 
counting-sticks. The men card players used small sticks as counters. 
“A Summer Trip Among the Western Indians. Bulletin of the Free Museum of Science 
and Art, v. 3, p. 160, Philadelphia, 1901. 
