428 BUREAU OF AMEEICAISr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



In this manner they had hardl}^ any food. They were all the time 

 talking about fire. "How would it be if we should go after fire?" — 

 "Let us j,^o." They went. When they arrived, the}' found the fire 

 burning; and one of them saw the water. The chief of the people 

 (to whom they came) was sitting indoors. He was sitting sideways. 

 "Halloo, cousin!" said the earth-chief. "Let us gamble (for the fire 

 and water)!" The sky -chief acted as if he did not hear. The earth- 

 chief sat down opposite him. After a short time the sky-chief looked 

 up and said, "You belong to a different tribe, so in what way are you 

 my cousin? You must tell a story." But the earth-chief answered, 

 "You are older than I," and he went out. After a while he came 

 back and said, "Halloo, cousin! Look! this here is your Indian cra- 

 dle.^ Your Indian cradle^ is new, while mine is old. And this here 

 is your shinny-club,^ while that there is my shinny-club.^ This is 

 your ball,^ and that one is my ball.^ Your ball^ is new, but mine is 

 old. Is it not so ?" Then he put all these things before him. The sky- 

 chief looked at them, and said, "Indeed, it is so, O cousin! Sit down 

 here, we will gamble." 



They began to play. The earth-chief thought to himself, "With 

 what shall I point my finger at the player who puts his hand behind his 

 back? Suppose I put a piece of abalone shell into m}^ eye? I will 

 sleep in the inside part of my eye." Then he said to his followers, 

 "You shall support me when I put my hands behind my back;" and 

 what he demanded was done. 



Then he pointed his finger at him (the sky-chief) when he put his 

 hand behind his back. Two men were supporting him. Thus things 

 happened. Maggots began to eat up his (the sky-chief's) anus, his 

 face, his nose, his ears. Soon the maggots ate him up; but he did 

 not notice it. He kept on sitting there. Two men were still sup- 

 porting him from the back. He had an abalone shell in his eye, and 

 was sleeping in that inside part. Now it seemed as if the sky-chief 

 were looking at it. To his surprise, he saw an abalone shell in the 

 other man's eye. By this time only bones had remained of him, for 



'"Cradle" or "bed" is a piece of canvas (in former days tanned hide) spread on the ground and 

 stretched by means of pegs or nails, before which the player participating in the so-called "game of 

 guessing " was squatting, while mixing the sticks in his hands, which were held behind his back. Upoij 

 receiving the guessing-signal from a player of the opposite side, the sticks were thrown on the "cradle,'' 

 usually one by one, while the marked stick was laid bare. 



2 The informant was mistaken in the use of these terms. " Club " and "ball " are used in a game 

 of shinny, while the game played by the two chiefs was the favorite game of "guessing." 



