344 GAMES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS _ [eru. ann. 24 
to which the others are noisily keeping time. When the bullets are all hidden, 
the player will suddenly call out, “ Ho!” in a high note, when the singing drops 
to a mere murmur, and the striker of the opposing side raises the stick threaten- 
ingly over the several moccasins, as if to strike them, but each time withdraws 
as if in doubt. Finally, he will place the end of a long stick under a moccasin, 
and turn it over. Should the marked bullet be disclosed, he is regarded as 
successful; if he fails the first time he has another trial, but if the bullet 
is found only at the second trial, the counters to which he is entitled will be 
fewer than if he finds the bullet the first time. In event of the opponent making 
a successful guess of the moccasin under which the marked bullet has been 
placed, the former player relinquishes the moccasins arid bullets and takes his 
turn at guessing. The game is decided when all the sticks on the blanket 
are won, those winning the majority taking the bets previously made. The scor- 
ing depends on the agreement previously formed. 
Miami. Indiana. 
Mr George 5. Cottman obtained for me (July, 1899), from Mr 
J. H. B. Nowland, the Indianapolis pioneer, the following account 
of the moccasin game as he saw it played among the Miami, Pota- 
watomi, and Shawnee at an Indian village which stood at the mouth 
of the Mississineva river, when at the treaty of 1832 he was secretary 
to Governor Jennings: 
The player, seated on the ground with six moccasins arranged in two rows 
before him and a little painted stick in his hand, would sing an incantation to 
divert attention from his action, and, thrusting his hand under the yarious 
moccasins, secretly and skillfully deposit the stick. The spectators then bet on 
the moccasin. 
Misstsauca. Rice lake, Ontario. 
G. Copway “ says: 
The Moccasin play is simple, and can be played by two or three. Three 
moccasins are used for the purpose of hiding the bullets which are employed 
in the game. So deeply interesting does this play sometimes become, that an 
Indian will stake first, his gun; next, his steel-traps; then his implements of 
war; then his clothing; and, lastly, his tobacco and pipe, leaving him, as we 
say, “ Nah-bah-wan-yah-ze-yaid,” “a piece of cloth with a string around his 
waist.” 
Nireisstne. Forty miles above Montreal, Quebec. 
J. A. Cuoq” gives the following definition: 
Kwate hewin, sorte de jeu de cachette; kazotage, jouer 4 la cachette. 
Orrawa. Manitoba. 
John Tanner ® thus describes the game: 
played by any number of persons, but usually in small parties. Four 
moccasins are used, and in one of them some small object, such as a little stick 
or a small piece of cloth, is hid by one of the betting parties. The moccasins 
are laid down beside each other, and one of the adverse party is then to touch 
“The Traditional History and Characteristic Sketches of the Ojibway Nation, p. 54, 
Boston, 1851. 
>» Lexique de la Langue Algonquine, Montreal, 1886. 
¢ A Narrative of the Captivity and Adventures of John Tanner, p. 114, New York, 1830. 
