iar alleluia or hallelujah he heard, from which he
inferred that the American Indians must be the descendants of the lost
tribes of Israel.

_GAMES._

It is not proposed to describe under this heading examples of those
athletic and gymnastic performances following the death of a person
which have been described by Lafitau, but simply to call attention to a
practice as a secondary or adjunct part of the funeral rites, which
consists in gambling for the possession of the property of the defunct.
Dr. Charles E. McChesney, U.S.A., who for some time was stationed among
the Wahpeton and Sisseton Sioux, furnishes a detailed and interesting
account of what is called the "ghost gamble." This is played with marked
wild-plum stones. So far as ascertained it is peculiar to the Sioux.
Figure 33 appears as a fair illustration of the manner in which this
game is played.

After the death of a wealthy Indian the near relatives take charge
of the effects, and at a stated time--usually at the time of the
first feast held over the bundle containing the lock of hair--they
are divided into many small piles, so as to give all the Indians
invited to play an opportunity to win something. One Indian is
selected to represent the ghost and he plays against all the others,
who are not required to stake anything on the result, but simply
invited to take part in the ceremony, which is usually held in the
lodge of the dead person, in which is contained the bundle inclosing
the lock of hair. In cases where the ghost himself is not wealthy
the stakes are furnished by his rich friends, should he have any.
The players are called in one at a time, and play singly against the
ghost's representative, the gambling being done in recent years by
means of cards. If the invited player succeeds in beating the ghost,
he takes one of the piles of goods and passes out, when another is
invited to play, &c., until all the piles of goods are won. In cases
of men only the men play, and in cases of women the women only take
part in the ceremony.

Before white men came among these Indians and taught them many of
his improved vices, this game was played by means of figured
plum-seeds, the men using eight and the women seven seeds, figured
as follows, and shown in Figure 34.

Two seeds are simply blackened on one side, the reverse containing
nothing. Two seeds are black on one side, with a small spot of the
color of