Kitchi-Gami: Life Among the Lake Superior Ojibway

CHAPTER VII

Sl'ORTS ~1> l'ASTIMES. 81 CHAPTER VII. INDIAN SPORTS AND .PASTIMES-THE GAME OF THE :BOWL-THE PIECES AND l'AWNS-MODE OF !'LAYING-AN ANGRY NATIVE-THE GAllE OF l'INSTOPS -SAUVAGERIE-SOOIA.l!ILITY OF THE NATIVE8-A l!'UMERIE-SMOKE INCENSE-THE FIRST :BIRD-A MEDICINE FEAST-INDIAN SING·SONGSSTORY ·TELLERS-CURIOUS LEGENDS-HIAWATHA-l!A.LL l'LAY-RAQUETS AND l!A.LLS-l'RAll!JE DE LA CROSSE-CONSI'IRACIES-THE THROWING GAME-SPOKTS ON THE ICE. THE remark which Tacitus makes of our old Germanic ancestors, that they spent one half their life in hunting and war, the other half in idleness and play, is equally referable to these savage Indians. It is really incredible what a variety of games they have invented, not merely games of pure chance, but also those in which the brain and the muscle are exercised, and time passed in a pleasant way. I have paid much attention to this matter, and yet I daily detect some new variety of Indian amusement. The young men have their games, the young women theirs, and so have the children. For summer and spring they have special games, and they have others, too, on the winter ice. And the most curious thing is that I find all these Indian games, as far as I can understand them, very ingenious and amusing, and, at any rate, much less monotonous than that stupid 82 THE GAME OF THE BOWL. European game of Monte, which the entire HispanoAmerican race, down to the Straits of Patagonia, is so passionately fond of. In proof of this assertion, I may here allude to the game called by the Indians "pagessan,'' and which I frequently saw played. The Canadians call it "le jeu au plat" (the game ofthe bowl). It is a game of hazard, but skill plays a considerable part in it. It is played with a wooden bowl, and a number of small figures bearing some resemblance to our chessmen. They are usually carved very neatly out of bones, wood, or plum-stones, and represent various things: a fish, a hand, a door, a man, a canoe, a half moon, &c. They call these figures "pagessanag"(carved plumstones ), and the game has received its name from them. Each figure has a foot on which it can stand upright. They are all thrown into a wooden bowl (in Indian "onagan"), whence the French name is derived. The players make a hole in the ground, and thrust the bowl with the figures into it, while giving it a slight shake. The more :figures stand upright on the smooth bottom of the bowl through this shake all the better for the player. Each :figure has its value, and some of them represent to a certain extent the pieces in the game of chess. There are also other :figures, which may similarly be called the pawns. The latter, carved into small round stars, are all alike, have no pedestal, but are red on one side and plain on the other, and are counted as plus or minus, according to the side uppermost. With the pawns it is perfect chance which side is up, but with the pieces much depends on the skill with which the bow1 is shaken. The other rules and mode of calculation are said to be very complit.:ated, and the game is played with great AN ANGRY NATIVE. 83 attention and passion. My Inct.ians here will lie half the night through round the bowl, and watch the variations of the game. It is played with slight divergences by nearly all the Indian tribes, and in many both men and women practise it. How seriously they regard the game, and how excited they grow over it, I had an opportunity of noticing. Some time ago I seated myself by some Indians who were playing at pagessan. One of them was a very handsome young fellow, wearing broad silver rings on his arms, the carving of which I was anxious to inspect. On turning to him with a question , however, he grew very impatient and angry at this interruption of the game, considered my question extremely impertinent, and commenced such a threatening speech that my interpreter could not be induced to translate it to me. He merely said it was most improper, and then began, for his part, abusing the Indian, so that I had great...