message,’ the Zunis gathered upon the house-tops and swarmed in the
Plaza, to hazard their property, amid prayers and incantations, upon a
guess under which tube the ball was concealed, is widely different from
that depicted by the Jesuit Fathers in Canada, where the swarthy Hurons
assembled in the Council House at the call of the medicine man and in
the presence of the sick man, wagered their beads and skins, upon the
cast of the dice
The scene described by Cushing, where, at the summons of the ‘prayer-
message,’ the Zunis gathered upon the house-tops and swarmed in the
Plaza, to hazard their property, amid prayers and incantations, upon a
guess under which tube the ball was concealed, is widely different from
that depicted by the Jesuit Fathers in Canada, where the swarthy Hurons
assembled in the Council House at the call of the medicine man and in
the presence of the sick man, wagered their beads and skins, upon the
cast of the dice. It differs equally from the scene which travellers
have brought before our eyes, of the Chinooks, beating upon their
paddles and moaning forth their monotonous chants, while gathered in a
ring about the player, who with dexterous passes and strange
contortions manipulated the stone and thus added zest to the guess
which was to determine the ownership of the property staked upon the
game. The resemblances in these scenes are, however, far more striking
than the differences. Climate and topography determine the one. Race
characteristics are to be found in the other.