CULIN] HIDDEN-BALL GAME: NAVAHO 347 
which to strike the moccasins; a chip blackened on one side that they toss up to 
decide which party shall begin the game; and one hundred and two counters, 
each about 9 inches long, made of a stiff, slender root-leaf of the Yucca angusti- 
folia. Two of these counters are notched on the margins. 
The moccasins are buried in the ground so that only about an inch of their 
tops appear and they are filled to the ground level with powdered earth or sand. 
They are placed side by side a few inches apart in two rows, one on each side 
of the fire. The players are divided into two parties, each controlling one row 
of moccasins. When, by tossing up the chip, they have decided which party 
shall begin, the lucky ones hold up a screen to conceal their operations and 
hide the ball in one of the moccasins, covering it well with sand. When all! is 
ready they lower the screen and allow that person to come forward whom 
their opponents have selected to find the ball. He strikes with a stick the 
moceasin in which he supposes the ball to lie. If his guess is correct he takes 
the stone, his comrades become the hiders and his opponents the seekers; but 
if he fails to indicate the place wherein the pebble is hid the hiders win some 
of the counters, the number won depending on the position of the moccasin 
struck and the position of the one containing the stone. Thus each party is 
always bound to win while it holds the stone and always bound to lose while 
its opponent holds it. 
The system of counting is rather intricate, and though I perfectly compre- 
hend it I do not consider a full description of it in this connection as neces- 
sary to the proper understanding of the myth. It will suffice to say that the 
number of counters lost at any one unsuccessful guess can only be either 4, 6, 
or 10; these are the only “counts” in the game. When the game begins the 
counters are held by some uninterested spectator and handed to either side 
according as it wins. When this original holder has given all the counters 
out, the winners take from the losers. When one side has won all the counters 
the game is done. The original holder parts with the two notched counters, 
ealled “.Grandmothers,” last. One of the party receiving them sticks them up in 
the rafters of the hogan (lodge) and says to them, “ Go seek your grandchildren ” 
(i. e., bring the other counters back to our side). The possession of the “ grand- 
mothers” is supposed to bring good luck. 
A good knowledge of the songs is thought to assist the gamblers in their work, 
probably under the impression that the spirits of the primeval animal gods are 
there to help such as sing of them. A song begun during an “ inning” (to borrow 
a term from the field) must be continued while the inning lasts. Should this 
inning be short it is not considered lucky to sing the same song again during the 
game. 
The following is an epitome of the myth of the kesitce: 
In the ancient days there were, as there are now, some animals who saw better, 
could hunt better, and were altogether happier in the darkness than in tie light; 
and there were others who liked not the darkness and were happy only in the 
light of day. The animals of the night wished it would remain dark forever 
and the animals of the day wished that the sun would shine forever. At last 
they met in council in the twilight to talk the matter over and the council re- 
solved they should play a game by hiding a stone in a moceasin (as in the game 
now called kesitce) to settle their differences. If the night animals won the 
sun should never rise again, if the day animals succeeded, nevermore should it 
set. So when night fell they lit a fire and commenced the game. 
In order to determine which side should first hide the stone they took a small 
weather-stained fragment of wood and rubbed one side with charcoal. They 
