two sides different in color, in marking, or in both. Those of the smaller
type are tossed in a basket or bowl. Those that are like long sticks,
similar to arrow shafts, from which they are primarily derived, were thrown
by hand. Myths of the Pueblo tribes speak of the game, in which "dice"
shaped like a shaft were used, as being played by the War Gods. The
split-cane "dice" were "sacrificed" on the altar sacred to the Gods of War.
In this connection it is interesting to find evidence that the "dice game"
of hazard was associated with the thought of war among tribes very
different, both in language and customs, from the Pueblo Indians. Among the
tribes living on the prairies the word used to indicate a "point" made in a
"dice game" is derived from the same root as the word used to indicate an
honor won on the field of battle.

Two examples of the class of games called "dice games" are here given: the
first a Pueblo game played almost exclusively by men; the second a game
found among the Omaha and kindred tribes and almost exclusively played by
women.

1

PA-TOL STICK GAME

_Properties_.--Three wooden billets; a flat stone about six inches in
diameter or square; forty stones about as "big as a fist" or like pieces of
wood; as many sticks for markers as there are players; counters to score
the game.

_Directions_.--The three billets, called pa-tol sticks, are made four and a
half inches long, one inch wide and half an inch in thickness; it is
important that the wood from which they are made be firm and hard. Two of