ON THE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 641 
Fires are used to give signals to distant parties. 
A number of rock paintings are found on the shores of Kamloops 
Lake. I have not seen them, and do not know what they represent. 
GAMES. 
The games of the Shushwap are almost the same as those of the coast 
tribes. We find the game of dice played with beaver-teeth (see p. 571), 
and the well-known game of lehal. Children and women play ‘ cat’s 
cradle.’ A peculiar gambling game is played in the following way: A 
long pole is laid on the ground, about fifteen feet from the players ; aring, 
about one inch in diameter, to which four beads are attached at points 
dividing the circumference into four equal parts, is rolled towards the 
pole, and sticks are thrown after it, before it falls down on touching the 
pole. The four beads are red, white, blue, and black, The ring falls 
down on the stick that has been thrown after it, and, according to the 
colour of the bead which touches the stick, the player wins a number of 
points. Another gambling game is played witha series of sticks of maple 
wood, about four inches long, and painted with various marks. There 
are two players to the game, who sit opposite each other. A fisher-skin, 
which is nicely painted, is placed between them, bent in such a way as to 
present two faces, slanting down toward the players. Hach of these 
takes a number of sticks, which he covers with hay, shakes and throws 
down one after the other, on his side of the skin. The player who throws 
down the stick bearing a certain mark has lost. 
Shooting matches are frequently arranged. An arrow is shot, and 
then the archers try to hit the arrow which has been shot first. Ora 
bundle of hay or a piece of bark is thrown as far as possible, and the men 
shoot at it. The following game of ball was described tome: The 
players stand in two opposite rows. A stake is driven into the ground 
on the left side of the players of one row, and another on the right side of 
the players of the otherrow. Two men stand in the centre between the 
two rows. One of these pitches the ball, the other tries to drive it to one 
of the stakes with a bat. Then both parties endeavour to drive the ball 
to the stake on the opposite side, and the party which succeeds in this 
has won the game. 
CUSTOMS REGARDING Brrtu, MarriaGe, AND DEATH. 
My information regarding customs practised at the birth of a child is 
very meagre. The navel-string is cut with a stone knife. The child is 
washed immediately after birth. The custom-of deforming certain parts 
of the body does not prevail. The mother must abstain from ‘ anything 
that bleeds,’ and consequently must not eat fresh meat. There are no 
regulations as to the food or behaviour of the father. The cradle after 
being used is not thrown away, but hung to a tree in the woods. If a 
child should die, the next child is never put into the same cradle which 
was used for the dead child. 
A girl on reaching maturity has to go through a great number of 
ceremonies. She must leave the village and live alone in a small hut 
on the mountains. She cooks her own food, and must not eat anything 
that bleeds. She is forbidden to touch her head, for which purpose she 
uses a comb with three points. Neither is she allowed to scratch her 
