( *3 ) 



fenfes at it ; they ftake all they are worth, 

 and feveral of them are known to continue at 

 it till they have ftript themfelves ftark naked 

 and loft all their moveables in their cabbins ; 

 fome have even been known to ftake their liberty 

 for a certain time ; this circumftance proves be- 

 yond all doubt how pafllonately fond they are of 

 it, there being no people in the univerfe more 

 jealous of their liberty than our Indians. 



The game of the platter or bones, is played 

 between two perfons only ; each perfon has fix or 

 eight little bones, which I at firft took for apricot 

 ftones, thefe being of the fame fize and fhape y 

 but upon viewing them nearer I found they had 

 fix unequal faces, the two largeft of which are 

 painted, the one black and the other of a ftraw 

 colour they fling them up into the air, ftriking 

 at the fame time againft the ground or table with 

 a round hollow difh, in which they are contained 9 

 and which muft firft be made to fpin round ; when 

 they have no difh they content themfelves with 

 throwing the bones up into the air with the hand ; 

 if all of them after falling to the ground prefent 

 the fame colour, the player wins five points, the 

 party is forty, and the points won are discounted in 

 proportion to the gains on his fide five bones of a 

 colour give only one point for the firft time, but the 

 fecond the winner fweeps the board ; any lower 

 number goes for nothing. 



He who wins the party ftill continues to play ; 

 the lofer yields his place to another who is named 

 by the markers on the fame fide ; for, they take 

 fides at the beginning of the game, fo that a 

 whole village is fometimes concerned in the party, 



and 



