File:Indians gambling on Puget Sound beach, ca 1884 (MOHAI 7162).jpg

Gambling was a popular pastime among the various Native American tribes of the northwest coast and the interior. One of the many games was called the stick game, or slahal. A person on one team held two small bones, and the people on the opposite team tried to guess if the marked bone was in the right or left hand. Slahal stakes were often high, and the games might last for hours. In this photo, taken sometime before 1889, a group of Puget Sound Indians play the stick game near their beached canoes. The two teams sit opposite one another on the sand. A number of team members hold sticks which are used for scoring and for keeping up a rhythmic beat. Teams were often from different villages.

Captions on image: "Indians gambling, Puget Sound, W.T."""Washington Territory and Oregon Views." Part of series entitled: "Washington Territory and Oregon Views"

• Subjects (LCTGM): Gambling; Indians of North America--Washington (State)