216 Expedition tu the 



his trick, when the other takes a stick. The cards are again 

 dealt, and the process is continued, until all the sticks are 

 taken. If four persons have each a stick, they continue to 

 play to the exclusion of the unsuccessful gamesters. When a 

 player wins two sticks, four cards are dealt to him, that he 

 may take his choice of them. If a player wins three sticks, 

 six cards are dealt to him, and should he take the fourth 

 stick he wins the stake. 



They are so inveterately attached to the heinous vice of 

 gambling, that they are known to squander in this way, every 

 thing they possess, with the solitary exception of their habita- 

 tion, which, however, is regarded more as the property of 

 the woman, than of the man. 



A game to which the squaws are very much devoted is 

 called by the Omahas Kon-se-ke-da or plumstone shooting. 

 It bears some resemblance to that of dice. Five plumstones 

 are provided, three of which are marked on one side only 

 with a greater or smaller number of black dots or lines, and 

 two of them are marked on both sides. They are, however, 

 sometimes made of bone, of a rounded and flattened form, 

 somewhat like an orbicular button mould, the dots in this 

 case being impressed. A wide dish and a certain number of 

 small sticks by the way of counters are also provided. Any 

 number of persons may play at this game, and agreeably to 

 the number engaged in it, is the quantity of sticks or coun- 

 ters. The plumstones or bones are placed in the dish, and 

 a throw is made by simply jolting the vessel against the 

 ground to cause the dice to rebound, and they are counted 

 as they lie when they fall. The party plays round for the 

 first throw. Whoever gains all the sticks in the course of the 

 game, wins the stake. The throws succeed each other with 

 so much rapidity, that we vainly endeavoured to observe their 

 laws of computation, which it was the sole business of an 

 assistant to attend to. 



The squaws, sometimes, become so highly interested in 



