The Portland daily press., 1894-06-11
PLAY FOR BIG STAKES.
Gambling Among the Indians Carried
to the Extreme.

by the Result of Single Game-How the
Bone Game Is PIayed--The4 Indian Has
Great Faith In Luck and Charms.
| The Indian is an inveterate gambler
There 1sinothing in his possession that he
| Will not wager on game of chance. This
characteristic arises from perfectly nat
ural cause. The Indian is a firm believer
In the supernatural, and consequently has
great faith in luck, if it may be SO termed
Each Indian is the possessor of an indi-
| vidual charm, or fetch, that gives him
ability to do things that other Indians
| cannot do. This fetch is something that
| belongs especially to the individuals pos
sessing it, and according to their belief
| would be OF no use or advantage to any
other Indian
lo2 NO person besides the possessor knows
what this fetch is, and were it to become
known it would Immediately lose it's pow
| er for good. Having full faith in the abil-
1ty OF his charm to bring luck to him, the
Indian never fails to place all his possess
sions in the balance when there is bet on.
If he loses, he takes it philosophically and
attributes his bad luck to the greater pow
er of his adversarys charm. If he wins, he
has added faith in the power of his own
charm. have known an Indian TO yvaper
all of his earthly possessions. even To bia
squaw and children, on the fall of a stick
in one of their games
I have known one village to become ah.
solute paupers and be denendent unon
charity for months because the members
bet everything thev had on tbe resnlt Of a
game participated in by two villages
Such occurrences were common severa,
years ago, and were it not for the restrie
lions of governmental regulations would
be still.
One peculiaritv of Indian gan,b1;ne
games is their intrieacv. Tn several tribes
have seen Indians plavinp a game with
sticks and stones for hours at a time Not.
withstanding the closest attention have
been unable to discover the system nsed
nor have I ever met a white man who
could explain the game to me. The IN
dams would sit for MANY hours tbroyy;Do
the stones and sticks and losing or win
ming large amounts. hut the whole .ya,ne
/ was a mystery that seemed imnossib7a IF
solution to white men.
There are several cannes If this char.o-
ter and among the Pacific coast tribes thar
are common. In addition to his faith IN
his charm the average Indian nlaoes preat
dependence upon his ability to cheat. The
best cheat is accorded the highest bonors
when eamblins is ind,7loed in Tbere 10
never thought of getting angry over deft
tricks or unfair methods SO lone as the nor.
petrator is not caught in the act. IF he is
caught. he simply refunds his gains and ID
laughed at for his clumsiness Ii is nroha.
BILE that no gambling game among Indians
ever goes to an ending without what a
white man would call outrageous cheat.
ing From simple games with sticks tn
horse racing. the acme of Indian gambling
the man who can do the most dishonest
things with the least danger of exposure ia
the man who obtains the most money and
the highest praises.
The players never get angry. and there
is never any quarreling over the games.
Indians lose and win with a stoicism that
is the emulation of gentlemen gamblers
among the whites. / knew of an Indian
who lost all his belongings, even his wife
and children, and yet he got I'D with a
smile on his face and started out to steal
enough from some unfortunate white man
or other tribe of Indians to make I'D for
his lost fortune. Indians will sit all night
over game, and sometimes three or four
games are going at the same time. the ex
cited onlookers passing from one to the
other and betting on two or three games
at once.
Two principals choose sides, or two vii
lagos are ar1ayed against each other, and
then the fun begins The opposing sides
sit opposite each other in a long double
row. Between the rows are spread blan-
kets, upon which the stakes are placed
The preliminaries of the game consist of
the decision of stakes, values and amounts
AS in the game mentioned above, the OBJ
ject of every Indian is to get something
the best of his opponent in the matter Of
value of the article bet, and in the settle
ment of this there is much dispute and
wrangling. must say however that the
swrangling never results in anger or fight
ing. 1t frequently takes an hour to settle
all the points of stakes, and then the game
proper begins.
A toss is made to see which side shall hold
the bone, which being settled all is atten-
ton. The center player takes small bone
in his hands and begins series of frantic
Jugglings to deceive his opponents, and
then rapidly passes his hands to the person
on right and then to his left, as if placing
in hni,. ALI ~