It is pure gambling. The prizes are valuable,—furs, clothing, food, everything goes in the excitement of the game. An Indian may be beggared in a minute.
Father Hennepin describes the excitement of the game in his Descriptions of Louisiana, published in Paris in 1683. This book is a description of his travels at that time in the valley of the Mississippi to the Falls of St. Anthony and beyond. Father Hennepin said:
“There are some so given to the game that they will gamble away even their greatcoat. Those who conduct the game scream at the top of their voices when they rattle the platter; and they strike their shoulders so hard as to make themselves black and blue with the blow.”
The Indian boys have their pony races and running matches. They play much like white boys, but with more cruelty. [[62]]
SIOUX AND CHIPPEWAS OF MINNESOTA
he Iroquois drove the Chippewas, or Ojibways, from their hunting grounds and from fishing in many waters in central New York; as the bands increased and more needed food, many started westward, and Chippewa names of lakes and rivers mark their progress toward the Mississippi. They made a long halt at the Sault Ste. Marie, for many fish were in these waters, but there was no place to plant their corn. They built their wigwam fires farther westward each year, until they reached what is now northern Minnesota. Here they found the Dakotas, or Sioux, had possession of the beautiful lake region, which was so nearly like the country by the River of Islands in the east.
The Chippewas had no wish to go back, and their warriors and chiefs were too brave to think that even the fierce western tribes could conquer them. They built their wigwams on islands and points of land projecting into the lake, for these made good places of [[63]]landing for their birch-bark canoes, and also gave them a better chance to watch for their enemies than in the thick forests of pine, birch, and cedar.
Each band of Chippewas has yet many stories to tell of the terrible battles with the “nadoway-sioux,” as the French trappers and hunters call the Algonquin word which means “hidden enemies.” This warfare began years before the time of our war of the Revolution and did not end for nearly a century. The Chippewas fought for their new home very bravely, and the Sioux were just as brave in trying to hold what they believed to be the center of the world and nearest like the Happy Hunting Grounds of the future life. There is a very extensive view of the Mississippi at its junction with the Minnesota which is called by the Indians Mendota, or the “gathering of the waters.” The contending tribes fought fiercely to hold or to obtain this place, for here these red men, with their love for the beautiful in nature, had decided was where many of their gods liked best to stay. The building of Fort Snelling at this point and the arrival of white men put a stop to the battles, and neither tribe could claim Mendota.