Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/284

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of a volcano and of the fabled goddess of (illegible text) but also "4. a stone from a volcano used in the play called (illegible text). See (illegible text)."

In Captain King's journal of Cook's voyage (illegible text) the Pacific ocean,[1] he says: "They have another game which consists in hiding a stone under a piece of cloth which one of the party spreads out, and (illegible text) in such a manner that the place where the stone lies is difficult to be distinguished. The antagonist, with a stick, then strikes the part of the cloth where he imagines the stone to be: and as the chances are, upon the whole, considerably against his hitting it, odds of all degrees, varying with the opinion of the skill of the parties, are laid on the side of him who hides." Elsewhere he says: "We observed great numbers of small polished rods, about four or five feet long, somewhat thicker than the rammer of a musket, with a tuft of white dog's hair fixed on the small end. These are, probably, used in their diversions."

Corney[2] says: "They play another game by hiding a stone under three pieces of cloth. Six people play at this game, each party having his stone and cloths and a small wand with which they strike the cloth under which they think the stone is deposited. If they do not guess right the first time, the stone is shifted and so on alternately. I have seen the chiefs sit for a whole day before they decide the game."

A no-a in the Bishop Museum (Cat. number 881) is described as the stone of Kalanikupele, the last king of Oahu, who had a large house at Waimanalo where he played this and other games.

My informants stated that this game is not played now in Honolulu, but that they had seen it played by men from Kauai.

J. Stanley Gardiner[3] says that in Rotuma "another favorite amusement on the beach is to make a bank of sand, and out of this to scrape a number of holes in the sand. A piece of coral is then taken in the hand and, while these are filled up, hid in one.

  1. Vol. iii, p. 145.
  2. Journal Anthropological Institute, vol. XXVII. p. 488.
  3. Page 106.