The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-03-29

/ travels. There are frequent misses,
wheE the onlookers all laugh at the
/ unlucky boy whose arrow goes astray.
/ Shukshuks means ring in the Kla-
math language. There are several
mobilize: tons of the ring game, to all
{ of which the name is given.
/ In one variety the ring is only half
/ an inch in diameter and the boys, in
| stead Of shooting arrows at it as it
rolls across the floor jab at 1t with
a little ivory anvil striving to put the
awl through the center of the ring
| without touching the whirling hoop or
| stopping it in any way. An expert
player will jab his awl through first
one side and then the other. his hand
| moving with great swiftness and ac-
curacy. To pierce one side counts
one; to pierce both sides counts two.
If he touches the ring with his awl he
gets zero mark.
Another game is called Shikna
which means spears" A forked stick
is stuck in the ground and the play
ers retire for an agreed-upon distance
from it. Each player is provided with
shikna, or spear, of willow six feet
long and sharpened at the end. The
players throw their spears in turn,
each trying to make his shikna fall
so that one end of it will rest in the
fork of the stick stuck in the ground
The player who does this scores five.
If no players spears falls in the fork
of the stick the player whose shikna
falls nearest the goal scores one.
The game can be played by any num-
Der of boys and the one who makes ten
first wins the game.
Prof. George A. Dorsey, who has
made a special study of the Klamath
Indians, says that in one of the shinka
games he saw there was a player who
did not fail to land his spear in the
fork of the upright stick more than
once in eight throws.
Prof. Dorsey has collected, and has
in his keeping in the Field Columbian
Museum in Chicago, specimens of all
the articles used by the Klamaths in
playing their various games. These
could easily be duplicated by white
children who wanted to try them.
A game called punching out the
moon" is played both by children and
grownups. An elongated ball of pith,
wound with fiber, has a loop attached
to one end, and from this loop runs
a string six inches long, on the end
| of which is an ivory pin or a porcupine
quill. The player takes this pin, or
quill, between his thumb and forefin-
| ger, and, giving the ball a toss, tries
! to insert the pin in the little loop at
the IOp Oh the Ddli AS VHe Ddll Is llS1L
| and the loop is only quarter OF an
inch in diameter, this is not so easy as
| it would seem.
The game is only played in winter.
| The klamath Indians believe that as
| often as they stick the pin in the loop
| they shorten little the winter months
| and hasten the coming of spring.
Another game is called the stick
| game. Two large and two small sticks
orp6 hV of the MIA VprS
| under a blanket so that the other play
| ers cannot see in what order they lie.
| Then they guess at the order and a
| successful guess counts point. 1t will
readily be seen that there are siI:
ways in which the sticks can be laid
under the blanket-two big ones fol-
| lowed by two little ones; two little ones
| followed by two big ones; a little one, a
| big one, little one and big one
| again; big one, little one, big one, lit
| tie one; little one, two big ones, and a
| little one; and finally, a big one, two
| little ones, and big one.
| When player makes wrong guess,
| he has to pass over a countr to the
| player who arranges the sticks But
| whenever the sticks are laid alternate
/ ly big and little-that is, big one, lit
tie one, big one, little one; or, little
| one big one, little one, big one-and
| tilS PS0ANAOAA 40 . NAAN F4~S
has been arranging the sticks has to
pass them over to the guesSer for him
| to arrange and become a guesser him
| self. If the position called 'vuish y
which is two little sticks followed by
two big ones, is laid and guessed,
neither side wins. and it does not
| count.
The klamath children are fond of
! playing with tops, which they make
| by sticking a peg through a disc of
wood. They declare that they had tops
in the klamath tribe long before the
| white men came to their country, and
there is every reason to believe that
| they did.
The Klamaths do not seem to have
taken to the games of the white man,
but stick to their own ancient forms
| of amusement. Some day, however,
| they may learn to play baseball.