THE ORIGINAL GAMK. 179 



no young man can belong to a "first twelce," or be a " tr</<7, playei. who 

 3 not attend to his way of living, and shun entirely the flowing bowl. 

 or other vices of a more questionable character. It is so simple to look 

 at that anyone can readily master its first principles in a few minutes, but 

 to excel at it requires careful and steady practice, which not only acts 

 healthfully on the body, but exercises an exhilarating effect upon the 

 mind. 



The game is always alive, and no player need ever complain that he has 

 not had innings enough. As a matter of fact, it is nearly all innings if * 

 player only chooses to make it so. 



THE ORIGINAL GAME, 



Lacrosse, or Bagataway, as it was originally called, is an Indian game, 

 and was used by them not only as a recreation, but also as a training 

 school in which to quicken and strengthen the body, and accustom their 

 young warriors to close combat so as to fit them for the sterner realities 

 of the war path. It was a sport emphatically suited to the nature and 

 development of the young Indian warriors, and it is not surprising, as an 

 old writer tells us, that amongst some of the tribes it became "the chief 

 object of their lives." 9 



The original game had no fixed or definite rules by which it was gov- 

 erned : each tribe laid down laws of its own, but in all cases it was mind 

 which was made subservient to matter, instead of vice versa. 



As far back as we can trace, we find the original Crosse to have been 

 of a very different shape to that in present use. Those of the Choctaw-. 

 ( 'hippewas. ( 'lierokees and Creeks were about three feet long, bent into 

 an oblonir hoop, at one end large enough to hold the ball. Those of the 



MIX. ( >bijways, Dacotahs, Six Nations, Poutawatamies, and n 

 other tribes, were about the same length, but the hoop was circular, fc 

 of the original Mirks were over four feet long. The net-work of 

 oblong hoop was generally tlnve indies long and two wide ; that of the 

 round hoops twelve inches in eireu inference. The former was literally 

 net-work. but the latter was .simply two string tied in the centre , 

 fastened in four places to the hn.p: and both WVt6 sufficiently bagged t 

 catch and hold the ball. The net-Work <>r strings were originally of 

 /<//> (the small roots of the spruce live u>ed for ^\ ini; bark canoes ; after 

 wards they were made of deerskin. Amon^ the i'lmcktaws. ('herd 



! i player carried two Btickfl, one in each hand. The ball 

 was can-lit and carried between them. There v, ierahle dill'ei 



n the play with one >tick and two the former by far the m-.-t ditiicult. 



