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 the seed left in the center, the reverse side having a black spot in the center, the body being plain.  Two seeds have a buffalo’s head on one side and the reverse simply two crossed black lines.  There is but one seed of this kind in the set used by the women.  Two seeds have half of one side blackened and the rest left plain, so as to represent a half moon; the reverse has a black longitudinal line crossed at right angles by six small ones.  There are six throws whereby the player can win, and five that entitle him to another throw.  The winning throws are as follows, each winner taking a pile of the ghost’s goods: 

     [Illustration:  Fig. 47—­Auxiliary throw No 5.]

Two plain ones up, two plain with black spots up, buffalo’s head up, and two half moons up wins a pile.  Two plain black ones up, two black with natural spots up, two longitudinally crossed ones up, and the transversely crossed one up wins a pile.  Two plain black ones up, two black with natural spots up, two half moons up, and the transversely crossed one up wins a pile.  Two plain black ones, two black with natural spots up, two half moons up, and the buffalo’s head up wins a pile.  Two plain ones up, two with black spots up, two longitudinally crossed ones up, and the transversely crossed one up wins a pile.  Two plain ones up, two with black spots up, buffalo’s head up, and two long