Chapter 43 - Page 2

succeeded, and a general melee was

about to take place, when suddenly the attention of the

quarrellers was arrested by a strange kind of Indian chant or

chorus, that seemed to operate upon them as a charm. Their fury

was at an end; a tacit reconciliation succeeded and the ideas of

the whole mongrel crowd whites, half-breeds and squaws were

turned in a new direction. They all formed into groups and taking

their places at the several fires, prepared for one of the most

exciting amusements of the Nez Perces and the other tribes of the

Far West.

The choral chant, in fact, which had thus acted as a charm, was a

kind of wild accompaniment to the favorite Indian game of "Hand."

This is played by two parties drawn out in opposite platoons

before a blazing fire. It is in some respects like the old game

of passing the ring or the button, and detecting the hand which

holds it. In the present game, the object hidden, or the cache as

it is called by the trappers, is a small splint of wood, or other

diminutive article that may be concealed in the closed hand. This

is passed backward and forward among the party "in hand," while

the party "out of hand" guess where it is concealed. To heighten

the excitement and confuse the guessers, a number of dry poles

are laid before each platoon, upon which the members of the party

"in hand" beat furiously with short staves, keeping time to the

choral chant already mentioned, which waxes fast and furious as

the game proceeds. As large bets are staked upon the game, the

excitement is prodigious. Each party in turn bursts out in full

chorus, beating, and yelling, and working themselves up into such

a heat that the perspiration rolls down their naked shoulders,

even in the cold of a winter night. The bets are doubled and

trebled as the game advances, the mental excitement increases

almost to madness, and all the worldly effects of the gamblers

are often hazarded upon the position of a straw.

These gambling games were kept up throughout the night; every

fire glared upon a group that looked like a crew of maniacs at

their frantic orgies, and the scene would have been kept up

throughout the succeeding day, had not Captain Bonneville

interposed his authority, and, at the usual hour, issued his

marching orders.

Proceeding down the course of Snake River, the hunters regularly

returned to camp in the evening laden with wild geese, which were

yet scarcely able to fly, and were easily caught in great

numbers. It was now the season of the annual fish-feast, with

which the Indians in