d be given. Perhaps
only our own people, perhaps neighboring tribes would be invited. These
festivities usually lasted for about four days. By day we feasted, by
night under the direction of some chief we danced. The music for our
dance was singing led by the warriors, and accompanied by beating the
esadadedne (buckskin-on-a-hoop). No words were sung--only the tones.
When the feasting and dancing were over we would have horse races, foot
races, wrestling, jumping, and all sorts of games (gambling).

Among these games the most noted was the tribal game of Kah (foot). It
is played as follows: Four moccasins are placed about four feet apart
in holes in the ground, dug in a row on one side of the camp, and on the
opposite side a similar parallel row. At night a camp fire is started
between these two rows of moccasins, and the players are arranged on
sides, one or any number on each side. The score is kept by a bundle of
sticks, from which each side takes a stick for every point won. First
one side takes the bone (a symbol of the white rock used by the eagle in
slaying the nameless monster--see Chapter I), puts up blankets between
the four moccasins and the fire so that the opposing team cannot observe
their movements, and then begin to sing the legends of creation. The
side having the bone represents the feathered tribe, the opposite side
represents the beasts. The players representing the birds do all the
singing, and while singing hide the bone in one of the moccasins, then
the blankets are thrown down. They continue to sing, but as soon as the
blankets are thrown down the chosen player from the opposing team,
armed with a war club, comes to their side of the camp fire and with his
club strikes the moccasin in which he thinks the bone is hidden. If he
strikes the right moccasin, his side gets the bone, and in turn
represents the birds, while the opposing team must keep quiet and guess
in turn. There are only four plays; three that lose and one that wins.
When all the sticks are gone from the bundle the side having the largest
number of sticks is counted winner.

This game is seldom played except as a gambling game, but for that
purpose it is the most popular game known to the tribe. Usually the game
lasts four or five hours. It is never played in daytime.

After the games are all finished the visitors say, "We are satisfied,"
and the camp is broken up. I was always glad when the dances and feasts
were announced. So were