64. He-lu-pa-ka-hi - ONE-BY-ONE-COUNTING

Two persons simultaneously put out their fingers and count, first one finger, crying "one;" then two, crying "two," and so on up to ten, repeating ten times. The game is played very rapidly, and if a player makes an error he loses, otherwise the one first completing the count wins. This game is also called ku-la li-ma, from ku-la, "school," and li-ma, "finger," from its being used, presumably, as a school exercise. It is not the same as the Chinese game of ch'ai múi, or the Italian morra.

Of the Samoan game Stair¹ says: "O le talinga matua, also called O le lupein ga, was a game of counting, played by two persons sitting opposite each other. One of them held up his closed hand to his companion, and immediately after showed a certain number of fingers, quickly striking the back of his hand upon the mat, directly after. His companion was required to hold up a corresponding number of fingers immediately after, in default of which he lost a point in the game."

J. S. Polack² says of the game in New Zealand: "The game of Ti is much indulged in. It consists of a party counting in unison with the fingers; on a number being given, the players must instantly touch the finger denoting the said number, and an error in this active performance is productive of much mortification to the native; the dexterity with which it is played can only be accomplished by continual practice."

Notes:
1. Page 138.
2. Manners and Customs of the New Zealanders, London. 1840, vol. II, P. 171.