180 THE HOME, FARM AND BUSINESS CYCLOPEDIA. 



The manner of picking up was peculiar, owing to its shape. As the ball 

 lay on the ground, it was almost covered with the hoop, and by a pecu- 

 liar twist of the wrist and arm from left to right, scooped up in one mo- 

 tion. The ball was thrown from it by a jerk, and could not be pitched so 

 far as with the present stick, as it received but little impetus. The 

 Indians dodged very little, except when the ball was caught or picked up 

 in a crowd, and dodging was necessary. This seems the more remarkable 

 when we consider the shape of the stick, and the peculiar facilities for 

 dodging afforded by the concavity of the netting, and the smallness of 

 the hoop which retained the ball. 



The original Ball was about the size of a tennis ball though differing 

 among the tribes, and was first made of deerskin or rawhide, stuffed with 

 hair, and sewed with sinews. Some of the tribes used a heavy wooden 

 ball generally a knot while others improvised balls of the bark of the 

 pine-tree. 



The earliest Goal was any marked rock or tree that happened to be 

 convenient. At grand matches, however, they were more particular, and 

 used for each goal a single pole or stake, eight feet high and two inches 

 in diameter, or two poles as at present. The distance between the gaols 

 varied in proportion to the number of players, from five hundred yards to 

 a mile and a half and more. Where <5hly one flag pole was used, it was 

 counted game by merely putting the ball past the line of the pole 

 although in some tribes the pole was required to be struck with the ball 

 before it could be counted game. 



The Umpires were generally the old medicine men of the tribe, whose 

 decision was in all cases final. 



The Dress of the players was generally as primitive as can be imagined 

 wearing only a light breech-cloth, and on grand occasions painting 

 their faces and bodies, and decorating themselves with fantastic bead- 

 work and feathers of various colours. Some tribes wore a curious kind 

 of tail fastened to the small of the back, made of white horse-hair, or 

 dyed porcupine quills, and a mane or neck of horse-hair dyed various 

 colours. 



Their matches were not decided like ours by the winning of three 

 games out of five, but sometimes lasted for days together. They were 

 really trials of strength and endurance as well as of skill. 



