4192 GAMES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS  [erH. ann. 24 
players, in turn, threw their javelins. The one which was thrown the greatest 
distance won a point. If another upon the same side was in advance of all 
upon the opposite side, it counted another, and so on for every one which led all 
those upon the opposite side. In the next contest, the second party chose the 
object over which to throw the javelin, and the distance. The game was thus 
continued, until the number of points were gained which were agreed upon 
for the game. 
Smnrnca. Seneca reservation, Cattaraugus county, New York. 
Dr Walter Hough* published the following account from infor- 
mation furnished by Andrew John, jr, a member of the tribe: 
The game of kow-a-sa, or snow-snake, the national game of the Iroquois 
it may be called, is still played. <A straight well-beaten road is now usually 
chosen, though sometimes it is played in the open, as formerly. The snakes 
are brought out, to the great glee of the boys, whose ears are on the alert, when 
some one says, “ dan-di-wa-sa-ye,” “let’s play snow-snake,’”’ because they have 
the honor to run and bring back for the throwers. The snake is a thin rounded 
strip of hard wood, from 7 to 10 feet long and 14 inches wide at most, made 
very smooth, shod at the forward end with a pewter nose piece, and not curved 
upward, Mr John says. It is balanced on the left hand and held by the tail 
in the right hand, the fingers being beneath and the thumb above. Holding it 
thus, the player runs 8 or 4 rods and, just before he throws he jumps. The 
stick skips away over the snow like an arrow, or perhaps one could better say 
like a snake. The skill in the game is in delivering the snake at the best slant, 
so that none of the original impetus given by the powerful right arm is lost. 
The game is usually of four snakes—that is, the best three throws in four. 
When skillful players contend, the excitement is very great among the In- 
dians, and there is much betting, sometimes for high stakes; in fact, the game 
is for betting purposes entirely. 
———New York. (Cat. no. 52241, Peabody Museum of American 
Archeology and Ethnology.) 
Snow-snake, consisting of a highly polished hickory sapling, 7 feet 
8 inches in length, the forward end tipped with lead. 
This specimen was formerly owned by Chief Two Guns, who won 
several prizes with this snake, and whose totem, a fish, is cut on one 
face. Collected by Mr John W. Sanborn. 
Another specimen in this collection (cat. no. 52242), made by In- 
dians, has not been used. 
— Grand River reserve, Ontario. (Cat. no. 55798, Field Colum- 
bian Museum.) 
Snow-snake, made of polished hickory sapling, 7 feet 11 inches in 
length, shod with lead at forward end for a length of 44 inches. 
Collected by Mr S. C. Simms, who gives the following account of the 
method of play: 
The snake, gii-wa-sa, is thrown along a narrow shallow rut in the snow, made 
by the dragging of a log. The player grasps the end, or tail, of the snake by 
putting the index finger against the end and the thumb to one side, opposite to 
*Games of Seneca Indians. The American Anthropologist, v. 1, p. 134, 1888. 
