COLUMBIA RIVER. 



117 



Wa - ich 



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 



