550 GAMES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS  [pru. Ann. 24 
KULANAPAN STOCK 
Pomo. Ukiah, California. (Cat. no. 61116, Field Columbian 
Museum. ) 
Six pointed oak forks (figure 728) set around a handle, to which they 
are bound by the bark of the Cercis occidentales; total length. 
112 inches. Four vertebral bones of 
the salmon,’ 4 inches in length, each 
composed of from thirteen to fifteen 
vertebrae, tied with cords of native 
flax at the base of the points. 
Collected by Dr George A. Dorsey, 
who designates the game as the spearing 
game, dittcega; from diken, to cast up.? 
LUTUAMIAN STOCK 
Kramatru. Klamath lake,Oregon. (Cat. 
, . no. 61531, Field Columbian Mu- 
Fig. 728. Dittcega; length, 114 in- 
ches; Pomo Indians, Ukiah, Cali- seum. ) 
aces etic Colum- A long elliptical ball made of tule pith. 
The lower end of the ball, which 
remains loose, consists of a dozen or more strings of tule fiber 
which project beyond the surface. The upper portion, or body, 
of the ball is tightly wrapped with the outer bark of the tule 
rush. Projecting from the upper end of the ball is a small 
braided loop, one-fourth of an inch in diameter, to which is 
fastened a 6-inch thread of native grass. At the end of this 
thread is attached a small bone pin a little more than 1 inch in 
length. 
Collected by Dr George A. Dorsey, who gives the following de- 
scription of the game under the name of soquoquas:° 
Taking the pin by the end to which the cord is attached by the thumb and 
forefinger, and permitting the ball to hang loosely at the end of the string, a sud- 
den downward thrust is given, the object being to strike the braided loop and 
catch it on the point of the pin. This is known as shapashspatcha (“to split or 
punch out the moon”). The game is always played in winter and generally 
only by adults. It is believed that by ‘ punching out the moon” in this fashion 
the winter months are shortened and the advent of spring is hastened. 
Another specimen, cat. no. 61673 (plate x1), is made similarly; 
the ball is 5 inches in length, while from it project several 
strands of the inner fiber of tule, also 5 inches in length; the 
knot, string, and pin are somewhat larger. 
“Doctor Hudson informed the writer that sucker vertebre are also used. 
> Doctor Hudson gives the name as di-che-ka, to-stab-at game. 
¢ Certain Gambling Games of the Klamath Indians. American Anthropologist, n. s., v. 
3, p. 21, 1901. 
