INDIAN GAMES. 183 



rounded and polished. They were put under a heap of 

 bark-fibre, were separated iiito two piles, wrapped in bark 

 and shifted from band to band wbile still beneatb tbe pile 

 of bark-fibre. Tbey were then exposed in tbeir bark 

 wrappings for tbe guesser to make bis cboice. 



According to Swan's observations, tbe Indians nortb of 

 Vancouver's Island use tbis style of sticks for gambling. 

 On tbe otber band, George Gibbs,'^^ speaking of tbe Indians 

 of Western Wasbington and nortb western Oregon, says : 

 "fartber down tbe coast ten bigbly polisbed sticks are used 

 instead of disks." 



Dr. J. Hammond Trumbnll kindly pointed out to me tbat 

 Information concerning Indian games could be obtained 

 from Indian Dictionaries and Vocabularies. In tbe Ab- 

 nakis Dictionary of Fatber Easles^^ a game is mentioned, 

 wbieb is described as played upon des espece de lozaiiges 

 enirelassees, by wbicb is meant, I presume, interlaced loz- 

 enges. Tbe statement tbat tbe grains bet upon tbe game 

 were placed upon tbe interlaced lozenges would seem to 

 sbow tbat tbe game was played upon a prepared surface 

 witb a pattern of tbis description upon it. As tbere is no 

 furtber account of tbe game, no conclusion can be drawn 

 as to bow it was played. Rasles calls anotber game 

 "cbariot" and says tbe one wbo makes cbariot does not 

 take tbe grains. Tbe only description given of tbis game, 

 traine qui roiäe — is too brief to suggest any idea of tbe 

 metbod of tbe play. 



In some of tbe Western dialects, Dr. Trumbull finds 

 mention of " a game of wbeels or roulette," and be bas fur- 

 nislied me some references taken from tbe Kalispel (Flat- 



32 ü. S. G. & G. Survey. Contributions to North American Ethnology, Vol. i, 

 p. 206. 



33 The dictionary of Rasles, Rasle, Räle or Ralle— for the name is speit in each of 

 these ways by different anthors — was printed in V^ol. l, N. S. Menioirs of tlie 

 American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Cambridge, 1833. The original MS. is 

 in the Harvard College Library. 



