308 REPORT—1899: 
and his opponent’s property. The game seems to have consisted in 
declaring in which hand the player held the marked one of two other- 
wise similar short bone rods, which could easily be held in the closed 
palm. My informant possessed a pair of these, which he was good 
enough to give me. Besides these two rods there were also twelve short 
pieces of wood used as well. These seemed to have played the part of 
counters, but of this I am not certain, this part of the game not being 
clear to me. 
Clothing. 
The old-time clothing has entirely gone out of use, with the exception 
of the moccasin, which is still almost exclusively worn by the old people 
of both sexes. A man’s clothing in former days consisted of a shirt 
which reached to his middle, made from the skin of the elk, deer, coon, 
or ground-hog. Below this he wore leggings of deer-skin or other suit- 
able material which reached to the top of the thigh. In addition to this 
he would sometimes wear a breech-clout of skin. For his feet he had 
neatly made moccasins ; and for his head, when he so desired it, a cap of 
the skin of the porcupine or of a loon with the feathers on. Commonly 
they wore no head covering, living as they did mostly within the dry 
belt of the province. The dress of the women of the nobler class con- 
sisted of a long doe-skin shroud or smock, reaching from the neck to the 
feet, and tied in at the waist with a band fastened on either side (see 
fig. 3). They were usually fringed at the side seams and at the upper 
and lower seams of the arms. They were also, in the case of chiefs’ 
wives and daughters, at times profusely decorated with beads, shells, and 
other ornamentation. The native name for this garment was ¢latli’k. 
Below these they sometimes wore leggings called matta’s, and on their 
feet finely wrought moccasins. 'The commoner women and female slaves 
wore only a short skirt, and went bare-legged and bare-footed. 
Sweat-houses. 
The sweat-house was and still is a great institution among the 
N’tlaka’pamug. My informant, who on my last visit to Lytton was 
saffering from paralysis of his lower limbs, was looking forward to the 
time when he would be so far recovered as to be able to take a sweat- 
bath. The method of taking the bath appears to be the same here as 
elsewhere, and as a description of these houses has been given before by 
Dr. G. M. Dawson, it will be unnecessary for me to give it here. 
Food, 
The food of the N’tlaka’/pamug depended somewhat upon the location 
of the various divisions of the tribe. The chief food of the Thompsons 
was venison, and the men of this district were usually skilful hunters and 
trappers. They sometimes followed the game with the bow and arrow, 
accompanied by dogs trained to pull down the quarry ; but most of their 
game was taken by means of traps and snares of various kinds. Of these 
the noose, pit, and drop-snares were the commonest. Mention is made 
of the noose snare for catching deer in one of the stories given below. 
On the Fraser below Lytton the Indians were mostly fishers and poor 
hunters. Their method of taking the salmon between Lytton and Yale 
was by means of the dip-net. When the salmonare running, the Indians 
may be seen in great numbers thus fishing on the banks of the river. 
