ON THE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA, 583 



trumps. It is the object of the game to guess in which of the two bundles 

 of sticks, which are wrapped in cedar-bark, the trump is hidden. Each 

 player uses one trump only. 



3. Matsqa'n. — About thirty small maple sticks are divided into four or 

 five lots of unequal numbers. After a first glance one of the players is 

 blindfolded, the other changes the order of the lots, and the first player 

 must guess how many sticks are now in each lot. When he guesses right 

 in three, four, or five guesses out of ten — according to the agreement of 

 the players — he has won. 



4. Gontl : a ball game. There are two goals, about 100 to 150 yards 

 apart. Each is formed by two sticks, about ten feet apart. In the 

 middle, between the goals, is a hole in which the ball is placed. The 

 players carry hooked sticks. Two of them stand at the hole, the other 

 players of each party, six or seven in number, a few steps behind them 

 towards each goal. At a given signal both players try to strike the ball 

 out of the hole. Then each party tries to drive it through the goal of the 

 opposing party. 



5. Tlet! : a ball game. Four men stand in a square : each pair, stand- 

 ing in opposite corners, throw the ball one to the other, striking it with 

 their hands. Those who continue longest have won. 



6. Sments. — A hoop is placed upright. The players throw at it with 

 sticks or blunt lances, and must hit inside the hoop. 



7. Matlda.' — A hoop, wound with cedar-bark and set with fringes, is 

 hurled by one man. The players stand in a row, about five feet apart, 

 each carrying a lance or stick. "When the ring is flying past the row they 

 try to hit it. 



8. Halha'l : spinning top, made of the top of a hemlock tree. A 

 cylinder, 3^ in. in diameter and 3 in. high, is cut; a slit is made in one side and 

 it is hollowed out. A pin, 2| in. long and -^ in. thick, is inserted in the centre 

 of the top. A small board with a wide hole, through which a string of skin 

 or of bear-guts passes, is used for winding up the top. It is spun on the 

 ice of the river. The board is held in the left, and stemmed against the 

 foot. Then the string is pulled through the hole with the right. Several 

 men begin spinning at a signal. The one whose top spins the longest 

 wins. 



V. LINGUISTICS. 



I. NISK-A'. 



The Niska' does not differ very much from the Tsimshian. There are certain 

 regular changes of sounds— which, however, are not yet sufficiently clear to me, but 

 some of which will become apparent by a glance at the comparative vocabulary — 

 slight differences in grammar and in vocabulary. For this reason I confine myself to 

 a very few remarks, leaving a full discussion of the collected material for a future 

 opportunity. 



The plural of noun and verb is formed in the same manner as in Tsimshian. 

 Although the same words do not always follow the same rules, the classes are almost 

 the same. The remarks regarding adjective and verb (Fifth Report, pp. 80, 83) 

 hold good in Nisk-a' also. 



The system of numerals differs in so far as there is no separate class for ong 

 objects. 



