cULIN] HAND GAME: DAKOTA 317 
one of the parties as to which hand the pebble is in, and both hands are opened. 
If the guess has been correct, the one holding the pebble is obliged to pay ail 
the rest an equivalent to the stake before them, but if the hand not containing 
the pebble be picked upon, all the ring forfeit their stakes to him. Wither one 
man can thus play against the whole, or he has it in his power to pass the 
pebble to the next, he betting like the others. This is a very common game, and 
a great deal of property by it daily changes hands, though seldom such large 
articles as guns, horses, or women. 
Maximilian, Prince of Wied,’ says: 
Many games are in use among these Indians; one of these is a round game, in 
which one holds in his hand some small stones, of which the others must guess 
the number or pay a forfeit. The game is known also to the Blackfoot. 
Crows. Montana. 
Mr Charles Alston Messiter? describes their favorite game of hand: 
The game consists in holding a shell in one hand, then placing both hands 
under a buffalo-robe, which is lying in front of all the players, who kneel in a 
circle, moving the hands about rapidly, changing the shell from one to the other 
and then holding them both up closed, your adversary having to say in which 
of them the shell is, losing a peg if he is wrong. A row of pegs stands in 
front of each man, who either takes one from or gives one to his opponent 
according to his loss or gain. These pegs represent so much, and everything 
an Indian possesses is valued at so many pegs—a wife so many, a horse so many, 
and so on. 
Daxora (YANKTON). Fort Peck, Montana. (Cat. no. 37605, Free 
Museum of Science and Art, University of Pennsylvania.) 
Implements for hiding game. Two sticks, cut square, 1{ inches in 
length, one painted red, with two notches, the other black, with 
four notches (figure 415) ; accompanied by eight counting sticks 
(figure 416), peeled twigs, 5} inches in length, painted black, 
one with two and one with four notches, the others plain. 
These were collected by the writer in 1900. 
Fig. 416. 
Fia.415. Sticks for hand game; length, lj inches; Yankton Dakota Indians, Fort Peck, Montana; 
cat. no. 37605, Free Museum of Science and Art, University of Pennsylvania. 
Fig. 416. Counting sticks for hand game ; length, 5} inches; Yankton Dakota Indians, Fort Peck, 
Montana; cat. no. 37605, Free Museum of Science and Art, University of Pennsylvania. 
The game is called han’-pa-a-pe-e-con-pe, that is, “moccasin game.” The 
stick with two notches is called non-pa-pa, and the one with four notches, 
to-pa-pa; the counting sticks, can i-ya’-wa. The sticks are concealed in the 
“Travels in the Interior of North America, translated by H. Evans Lloyd, p. 196, 
London, 1843. 
>Sport and Adventures among the North-American Indians, p. 316, London, 1890. 
