ornamented with
designs composed of segments of circles with groupings of dots. Some of the
markings are regarded as cabalistic, and there are men who claim to have a
knowledge of spells that will bring luck to the disks they ornament and
treat; such disks are considered valuable and often command a high price.
All of the disks in a set that is used in this game are ornamented alike
except one; this must be different from the others. It may be decorated
with red, for the sun, or with a dark color almost black, for the night.
This disk is frequently called the "chief," and the aim of the game is to
guess in which pile of disks the "chief" is hidden.

_Properties_.--A mat on which the game is played; a small mat on which the
counting or tally-sticks are put; a board that is to serve as a drum; four
drum-sticks; nine wooden disks about two and a half inches in diameter. The
designs on the nine disks, the twenty tally-sticks and the four drum-sticks
should be in color or burned into the wood. Eight of the disks should be
decorated alike; the ninth must be different and have either red or brown
as the predominating color; this disk is the "chief." A bundle of excelsior
is to be the substitute for the fiber of cedar bark which is used by the
Indians of the Northwest Coast when playing this game; if excelsior is not
available, dry leaves or some other dry material might be substituted,
within which, or under which, the disks could be hidden. All the articles
used in this game except the mats should be made in camp.

_Directions_.--An uneven number of players is required for this game. The
mat is laid east and west; at a little distance back to the northwest the
small mat is placed and on it are put the twenty tally-sticks. In a line
with the small mats to the northeast is laid the board around which the
four singers and drummers sit. The bundle of excelsior, or whatever
material is used in its place, together with the nine disks, is put at the
western end of the mat; before these is the place for the player who is to
hide the disks. On the northern and southern side of the mat sit the
players who are to guess where the "chief" is hidden, three or four on a
side. The messenger stands at the eastern end of the mat facing the player
who is to hide the disks. Lots should be drawn to determine who of the six
or eight players are to sit on the northern side and who on the southern
side. The player who is to do the hiding of the disk