cULIN] HIDDEN-BALL GAME: ZUNI 3881 
thunder-ball game of the water gods and water people-animals (i’-yan-ko-lo-we), 
and the kicked-billet game, or race, of the wind gods and wind people, birds, 
insects, ete., the mo-ti-kwa-we, stick-ball game. 
The game is not played by women or children. It is sometimes mimicked by 
the latter, although they are not provided with toys for the purpose, nor can 
they properly play it as a game, for they are not taught the rules or counts, 
and can therefore only pretend to play the game. 
In reply to a direct inquiry of the writer whether he considered 
that the game was borrowed or regarded it as a fundamental tribal 
ceremonial, Mr Cushing answered: 
It is certainly this latter—more of a function than any other game, for it is 
accompanied by song and dance and gibes and public betting of the most 
extravagant nature, is most elaborately and scrupulously prepared for, and 
seems not to have been played by others than by authorized persons. It is cer- 
tainly derived by the Zuni from their ancestors, both those of the Chaco region 
and those of the farther scuthwest and was very ancient among them, almost 
as ancient as sho’-li-we. 
Mrs Matilda Coxe Stevenson gives the following account of the 
game under the name iankolowe:* 
Implements.—Small stone disk, less than 2 inches in diameter, colored black 
on one side; four cups, a ball, and straws. “In the old, a grain of corn 
Fig. 499. Arrangement of tubes before piaying hiding game; Zuni Indians, Zuni, New Mexico; 
from Mrs Stevenson. 
’ 
was used instead of the ball;” and the corn is still used when the game is 
offered to the Gods of War. The four cups are placed on their sides close 
together in a row, the openings to the east. The disk, ball, and bunch of 
straws are laid on top of the cups [figure 499]. This arrangement before play- 
ing the game is observed by all men of any standing in the tribe, “for it was 
so with the Gods of War.” 
Each party chooses a side of the disk before it is thrown. The side up 
designates the starter of the game, who represents the side of the elder 
God of War. He sits facing south and forms a square with the four cups 
before him. The ball is secreted in one of the cups. The elder God of 
War always placed his cups in the form of a square. The other party, who 
sits facing north, chooses from the cup nearest to him, taking the one to 
the west. If the chosen cup contains the ball, he must pay 10 straws to the 
*Zuni Games. American Anthropologist, n. s., vy. 5, p. 487, 19038. 
