CULIN] EUROPEAN GAMES: CREE AND CHIPPEWA 791 
with buckskin. Other balls were of stone, or of deerskin stuffed with vegetable 
miaterial [figure 1085]. There were two ways of playing it. 
One way was quite similar to that of “ rounders.” The bat used in this game 
was a short straight stick, about 4 inches wide at one end [figure 1086]. Each 
side took turns in batting. Four stones were placed about 20 yards apart, in 
the form of a square. These were called “ houses.”” The man who held the bat 
was bowled to by a man of the opposite party, who stood about in the center 
of the ring. If the batter missed the ball, his place was immediately taken by 
the next man of his party. If he struck the ball with his bat, he immediately 
dropped the latter, and ran to the first house, or the second if he could manage 
it. The object of the opposite party was to catch the ball as quickly as possible, 
and strike the man with it while he was running from one house to the other, 
thereby knocking him out of the game. If the man managed to get back to his 
starting-point, he was allowed another chance to bat. The game is still fre- 
quently played by the young men. 
I have made no mention of playing cards, which are widely used, 
games being played either with cards purchased from the traders, or 
with native copies more or less closely resembling them. The ten flat 
pieces of cedar bark (plate xx1, cat. no. 11217, United States Na- 
tional Museum) collected by Maj. J. W. Powell from the Uinkaret 
in northern Arizona, which were figured as dice in the writer’s paper 
on Chess and Playing Cards, proved on comparison to be copies 
of playing cards. The games played by the Indian with cards are 
easily recognizable as common Spanish and American games. 
The remaining games which I am able to identify as of European 
‘origin may be included in a single class—games played on boards or 
diagrams, like merils. They may be regarded as games of skill and 
calculation, a kind of game which otherwise appears to be entirely 
lacking. 
ALGONQUIAN STOCK 
Cree and Curepewa. Muskowpetung reserve, Qu’appelle, Assini- 
boia. (Cat. no. 61994, Field Columbian Museum. ) 
Board and men (figure 1087), the board 9 inches square, with cross 
diagram with holes in which the men—small green painted pegs, 
with one larger one—are inserted. 
They were collected by Mr J. A. Mitchell, who describes the 
under the name of musinaykahwhanmetowaywin : 
game 
This game is played by two persons, one playing the king piece or oke-mow, 
against his opponent’s thirteen pawns. Moves can be made in any direction by 
any of the pieces, provided the lines of the diagram are followed. 
The king has the power to take the opposing pieces and can take as many 
pieces in one move as are left unprotected, but only following the lines of the 
board. The pawns have no power to take the king, but endeavor so to press it 
as finally to checkmate. The king is technically known as musinay-kah-whan. 
The game is one which has been long known to the Indians and is much 
admired by them. Many skillful players have been developed, some being more 
particularly skilled in manipulating the king piece, while others make the pawn 
their special play. The play is invariably for stakes of some kind. 
