544 GAMES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS  [2TH. ANN. 24 
hollowed at the base so that they fit into each other. The thread is 6 inches 
in length and is attached to a strip of caribou skin at one end. This leather 
is 4.5 inches long and has nine slits reaching within half 
an inch of the ends and in which the point may catch 
in throwing. The needle is of bone 2 inches long and 
0.1 inch in diameter. It is attached to the end of the 
thread which is towards the base of the cones. In 
using the ecagoo the thumb and forefinger grasp the 
end of the needle where it is enlarged by the sinew 
seizing, and the whole is swung outward and upward. 
The thread is just long enough to admit the point of 
the needle into the base of the first cone, where they 
are crowded into each other. The object to be at- 
tained is to pass the needle through the center of the 
cones or a slit in the leather at the top as the ecagoo 
falls. In gambling, a score is kept of the points made. 
Johnnie Cohoyla, from whom I obtained this, in the 
use of which he was an adept, said that the catching 
the point in the slits scored 1, on the first cone, 5, in 
first and second, 10, in all three, 15, and in second and 
third, 20. I saw it used in his camp as a gambling 
device, but elsewhere merely as a child’s toy. 
Doctor Russell precedes this account by say- 
ing: 
I saw the same apparatus in use among the Stoney 
Indians of Morley and among the Slayeys at Proyi- 
dence. 
ESKIMAUAN STOCK 
Eskimo (Centra). Cumberland sound, Baf- 
fin land, Franklin. 
Dr Franz Boas“ writes as follows (references 
to figures below follow the numbers used in this 
paper) : 
In winter, gambling is one of the favorite amuse- 
Fic. 716. Ecagoo. Thling- iments of the Eskimo. Figs. 717, 718, 719, 724 repre- 
chadinne Indians, Fort cont the ajegaung, used in a game somewhat similar 
Rae, Mackenzie; cat. no. 5 + eee E A 2 
10844, Museum of the to our cup and ball. The most primitive device is Fig. 
State University of lowa. 724, a hare’s skull with a number of holes drilled 
through it. A specimen was kindly lent to me by 
Lucien M. Turner, who brought it from Ungava bay ; but in Baffin Land exactly 
the same device is in use. Fig. 717 represents the head of a fox, in ivory; 
Fig. 718, a polar bear. The specimen shown in Fig. 719 was brought from 
Cumberland sound by Kumlien. The neck of the bear is more elaborate than 
the one shown in figure 718. The attachment of the part representing the hind 
legs is of some interest. The game is played as follows: First, the skull or the 
piece of ivory must be thrown up and caught ten times upon the stick in any one 
of the holes. Then, beginning with the hole in front (the mouth), those of the 
2'The Central Eskimo. Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, p. 567, 1888. 
