346 GAMES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS _ [E£TH. ANN. 24 
Navano. Keams canyon, Arizona. (Cat. no. 62534, Field Colum- 
bian Museum. ) : 
Implements for moccasin game (figure 456), consisting of a ball of 
sandstone, 14 inches in diame- 
ter, marked on one side with a 
cross, with one line painted red 
and the other black; also one 
hundred counting sticks, 8 inches 
in length, made of yucea, and a 
3 , club of cottonwood, slightly 
Fic. sh Morarn some; diameter of tall curved, 18 inches in length. 
club, 13 inches; Navaho Indians, Arizona; cat. ‘These specimens were collected 
». 62534, Field Columbian Muse : / a 
po, Gps, WiekE Col saben ene by Mr Thomas V. Keam. 
——— New Mexico. (Cat. no. 74741, United States National Mu- 
seum. ) 
Set of 102 splints (figure 457), 8% inches in length, made of the root 
leaf of the yucca. 
Two are notched on the margins to represent a snake, called the 
grandmother snake. These were collected by Dr Washington Mat- 
thews, U. S. Army, and described as counting sticks for the game of 
kescite. 
Doctor Matthews describes the game of kesitce® as follows: 
This is, to some extent, sacred in its nature, for the playing is confined to the 
winter, the only time when their myths may be told and their most important 
ceremonies conducted. It 
is practiced only during 
the dark hours. The real 
reason for this is probably 
that the stone used in the 
game can not be hidder 
successfully by daylight; 
but if you ask an Indian 
why the game is played 
only at night, he will ac- 
count for it by referring 
you to the myth and saying ® iS Coon ok an 3 : 5 ; el 
IG. ° ® 1m; 8 r moccasin game; len 
that he on whom the sun : ‘ polarbear These ce i = eek 
inches; Navaho Indians, New Mexico; cat. no. 74741, United 
shines while he is engaged States National Museum. 
in the game will be struck 
blind. I have heard that on some occasions, when the stakes are heavy and 
the day begins to dawn on an undecided contest, they close all the apertures 
of the lodge with blankets, blacken the skin around their eyes, place a watch 
outside to prevent intrusion, and for a short time continue their sport. 
The implements of the game are eight moccasins; a roundish stone or pebble 
about an inch and a half in diameter; a blanket used as a screen; a stick with 
«Navaho Gambling Songs. The American Anthropologist, v. 2, p. 2, 1889. 
>From ke, moccasins, and sitce, side by side, parallel to one another in a row. 
