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This game seems to amuse them, not only for hours but for whole 
nights, and the great cause of excitement lies in the stakes. Ten is 
game, and the party lose or win two at each guess. 
They have another sport, which seemed to be the favourite with the 
Indians around Vancouver: this is played with a number of disks of 
bone or ivory, of the size of a quarter of a dollar, one of which differs 
from the rest. These are concealed in tow or fibrous hemp, and the 
guessing takes place in the same way. With these disks the players 
make a great noise by shaking them in their hands. There is great 
attention required in those who venture to play the game; and such 
appears to be its fascination, that I have seen them deprive themselves 
of one garment or article after another, until they were entirely desti¬ 
tute ; and it is even said they often stake the freedom, not only of them¬ 
selves, but of their children. 
At Astoria we saw one day, when there was quite a crowd of In¬ 
dians at the encampment, several squaws, all dressed in their best 
attire. These were all more than usually attentive to their personal 
appearance. The principal among them was a widow, whose time 
of mourning for the death of her husband had just expired. Her 
object was to notify her friends that she was ready to receive the 
addresses of any one who was in want of a wife. To give such 
notification was, as I found on inquiry, a common custom among the 
Chinooks. 
The widow was of masculine make, and what we would call a 
buxom dame. She was attended by seven others, of small stature in 
comparison, who were her maids, and all evidently accompanied her 
to do honour to the occasion. Every half hour they would arrange 
themselves in a row, and the widow at their head, affecting a modest 
downcast look, would commence a chaunt, informing the bystanders 
that her period of mourning was out, that she had forgotten her 
deceased husband, given her grief to the winds, and was now ready 
to espouse another. This chaunt was accompanied by a small move¬ 
ment of the feet and body, which, with the guttural song and conse¬ 
quent excitement of such an exhibition, caused the fair ones to wax so 
