ABORIGINAL USE OF WOOD IN NEW YORK l8l 



Counting sticks have never been mentioned among the Iroquois, 

 and it was not till the summer of 1902 that the writer met with 

 them at Onondaga, connected with the peach stone game. Figure 



128 gives two views of one of these, having the base and expanded 

 head painted red. There are several of this form, and with each 

 set goes another, formed like a snake and mottled all over. Figure 



129 shows one of these, of the same size as the rest. 



Mr Stewart Culin, in his interesting monograph, Chess and Play- 

 ing Cards, describes some counting sticks. Those of the Dakotas and 

 Blackfeet have little resemblance to those of Onondaga, but some 

 from Maine and New Brunswick have a distinct likeness and vary 

 from 5 inches to 8^4 inches in length. Some are plain sticks ; others 

 are notched in various ways, or have the undulating serpent form. 

 He figured some from the Micmac Indians of Nova Scotia, who 

 used them with the game of the bowl. Of these it is said : 



There are 55 counting sticks — 51 plain rounded ones about 7^2 

 inches long, a king pin, shaped like the forward half of an arrow, 

 and three notched sticks, each presenting half of the rear end of 

 an arrow. These last four are about 8 inches long. Three of the 

 plain sticks form a count of one point, the notched sticks have a 

 value of five points, while the king pin varies in value, being used as 

 52d plain stick, except when it stands alone in the general pile ; 

 then it has, like the notched sticks, a value of five points. Culin, 

 p.698 



In this a woman " keeps the score on the counting sticks, which 

 at first lie together." The Micmacs of New Brunswick use 48 plain 

 sticks and four larger ones. One of these has five serrations on one 

 side, and two have four. The fourth stick is undulated. Culin, 

 p.704 



Some other Micmac sticks differed a little. The Passamaquoddy 

 Indians had 48 small sticks, nearly 5 inches long, four larger, and 

 one notched. The Penobscots used 55 cedar sticks, 51 being plain 

 and rounded, three flat, and one of a zigzag form. All were about 

 6 inches long. Culin, p.709 . 



Another general and popular game was that of straws, not unlike 

 that of jackstraws, but never mastered by a white man. It has 



