The Native Races (Vol. 1-5). Hubert Howe Bancroft

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Название The Native Races (Vol. 1-5)
Автор произведения Hubert Howe Bancroft
Жанр Документальная литература
Серия
Издательство Документальная литература
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isbn 4064066387792



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past losses in another race. Foot-racing and target-shooting, in which men, women and children participate, also afford them indulgence in their gambling propensities and at the same time develop their bodies by exercise, and perfect their skill in the use of their native weapon.411 The Colvilles have a game, alkollock, played with spears. A wooden ring some three inches in diameter is rolled over a level space between two slight stick barriers about forty feet apart; when the ring strikes the barrier the spear is hurled so that the ring will fall over its head; and the number scored by the throw depends on which of six colored beads, attached to the hoop's inner circumference, falls over the spear's head.412 The almost universal Columbian game of guessing which hand contains a small polished bit of bone or wood is also a favorite here, and indeed the only game of the kind mentioned; it is played, to the accompaniment of songs and drumming, by parties sitting in a circle on mats, the shuffler's hands being often wrapped in fur, the better to deceive the players.413 All are excessively fond of dancing and singing; but their songs and dances, practiced on all possible occasions, have not been, if indeed they can be, described. They seem merely a succession of sounds and motions without any fixed system. Pounding on rude drums of hide accompanies the songs, which are sung without words, and in which some listeners have detected a certain savage melody. Scalp-dances are performed by women hideously painted, who execute their diabolical antics in the centre of a circle formed by the rest of the tribe who furnish music to the dancers.414 All are habitual smokers, always inhaling the smoke instead of puffing it out after the manner of more civilized devotees of the weed. To obtain tobacco the native will part with almost any other property, but no mention is made of any substitute used in this region before the white man came. Besides his constant use of the pipe as an amusement or habit, the inland native employs it regularly to clear his brain for the transaction of important business. Without the pipe no war is declared, no peace officially ratified; in all promises and contracts it serves as the native pledge of honor; with ceremonial whiffs to the cardinal points the wise men open and close the deliberations of their councils; a commercial smoke clinches a bargain, as it also opens negotiations of trade.415

      TREATMENT OF HORSES.

      MEDICAL PRACTICE.