To play the game, a number of straws or reeds uniform in size and of
equal length were required
To play the game, a number of straws or reeds uniform in size and of
equal length were required. They were generally from six to ten inches
long. The number used in the game was arbitrary. Lawson puts it at
fifty-one. Charlevoix at two hundred and one. The only essential points
were that the numbers should be odd and that there should be enough of
them so that when the pile was divided into two parts, a glance would
not reveal which of the two divisions contained the odd number of
straws. In its simplest form, the game consisted, in separating the heap
of straws into two parts, one of which each player took, and he whose
pile contained the odd number of straws was the winner. Before the
division was made the straws were subjected to a manipulation, somewhat
after the manner of shuffling cards. They were then placed upon the
deer-skin or upon whatever other article was selected as a surface on
which to play. The player who was to make the division into two heaps,
with many contortions of the body and throwing about of the arms, and
with constant utterances to propitiate his good luck, would make a
division of the straws with a pointed bone or some similar instrument,
himself taking one of the divisions while his adversary took the other.
They would then rapidly separate the straws into parcels numbering ten
each and determine from the fractional remainders, who had the odd
number. The speed with which this process of counting was carried on was
always a source of wonder to the lookers-on, and the fact that the
counting was done by tens is almost invariably mentioned. Between two
people betting simply on the odd number no further rules were necessary.
To determine which had the heap containing the odd number, there was no
need to foot up the total number of tens. It was to be settled by what
was left over after the last pile of complete tens was set aside. The
number itself might be either one, three, five, seven or nine. In the
more complicated form of the game, this led to giving different values
to these numbers, the nine being always supreme and the one on which the
highest bets were wagered. It was generally understood that the holder
of this number swept the board taking all bets on other numbers as well
as those on the nine. It was easy to bet beads against beads and skins
against skins, in a simple game of odd or even, but when the element of
different values for different combinations was introduced, some medium
of exchange was needed to relieve the complications. Stones of fruit
were employed just as chips or counters are used in modern gambling
games, and a regular bank was practically instituted. Each player took a
certain number of these counters, as the equivalent of the value of the
merchandise which he proposed to hazard on the game, whether it was a
gun, a blanket, or some other article. Here we have all the machinery of
a regular gambling game at cards, but the resemblance does not stop
here. The players put up their bets precisely as they now do in a game
of faro, selecting their favorite number and fixing the amount, measured
in the standard of the game, which they wished to hazard. ‘By the side
of the straws which are on the ground are found the (_grains_) counters,’
says Perrot, ‘which the players have bet on the game.’ In another place,
the method of indicating the bets is stated as follows: ‘he (meaning
apparently the one who has bet) is also obliged to make two other heaps.
In one he will place five, in the other seven straws, with as many
(_grains_) counters as he pleases.’ These phrases may fairly be
interpreted to mean that a record of the bets, somewhat of the same
style as that kept with counters upon a faro table, was constantly
before the players. Complicated rules determined when the players won or
lost; when the bets were to be doubled and when they were to abide the
chance of another count. The loser at the game, even after all that he
had with him was gone, was sometimes permitted to continue the game on
his promise to pay. If ill luck still pursued him the winner could
refuse him credit and decline to play for stakes that he could not see.
