Page:Voyages in the Northern Pacific - 1896.djvu/134

106 restraint till they attain the age of twenty. They then become more steady and have children. The boys are always practising throwing the spear, swimming, diving, and playing in the surf; flying kites is a favourite amusement; while on shore here I made several. The natives are very great gamblers; their original game is draughts, but instead of having twelve men each, they have about forty; the board is painted in squares, with black and white stones for men, and the game is decided by one party losing all his pieces. 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 decided one game. They are fond of cards, and play whist, all-fours, and nosey, extremely well, They often gamble away houses, lands, canoes, and even the clothes off their backs. They are prone to the use of spirituous liquors, and think nothing of taking a tumbler of strong Jamaica rum at a draught. The chief women are, if possible, the greatest drunkards. They distill an excellent spirit from the tee root, which grows wild about the mountains, and resembles the beet root of this country. It is, however, larger and much sweeter, of a brownish appearance, and in perfection all the year round. The natives collect a quantity of this root, and bake it well under ground; when sufficiently