10 



THE POPULAE EDUCATOK. 



LA CEOSSE, THE NATIONAL GAME OF CANADA. 



onward until their opponents' goal is reached, and the other 

 striving by every means in their power to beat back the ball, and 

 force it in turn into the opponents' ground. Great agility and 

 dexterity are required to play an efficient part in the game. 

 Pleetness of foot and quickness of eye are the essential qualifi- 

 cations of a good player. When one has caught and is carrying 

 the ball upon his crosse, it is allowed to any of the opposite 

 side to strike the ball from his crosse with their own weapon. 

 Thus, at the moment when, after a long contest, he may be on 

 the point of winning the game by a dextrous fling of the ball, 

 which he has obtained with much difficulty, it may be jerked 

 or beaten out of his crosse in a contrary direction, and the 

 struggle may be renewed as from the beginning. 



As played by the Indians, who adopt a light and picturesque 

 costume for the purpose, the game, as we have said, is highly 

 interesting to the spectator. Their skill in the finer points of 

 the game is admirable. A player, running at full speed, will 

 frequently catch up the ball on the end of his Crosse, drop it 

 to the ground to bafHe a pursuer, dextrously catch it again, and 

 repeat this until he has either passed it on to one of his own 

 side who is nearer the adversary's goal, or carried it well forward 

 himself. For, contrary to the rule in football, in this game the 

 player is allowed to do all he can to pass the ball on to another 

 competitor on the same side who may place himself in a more 

 favourable position. 



1 The following are the rules to be observed in playing the 

 game: 



I The ball must not be caught, thrown, or picked up with the 

 hand, except to take it out of a hole in the" grass, to keep it out 

 of goal, or to protect the face. 



The players are not allowed to hold each other, nor to grasp 

 an opponent's crosse, neither may they deliberately trip or 

 strike each other. 



If the ball be accidentally put through a goal by one of the 

 players defending it, it is the game for the side attacking that 

 goal. 



If the ball be put through a goal by one not actually a player, 

 it does not count for or against either side. 



A match is decided by winning three games out of five, unless 

 otherwise specially agreed upon. 



Wo give an illustration of the crosse, and believe the instruc- 

 tions herein contained will bo sufficient to enable any party of 

 players who may not have seen the game to commence it for 

 themselves. It has all the elements of popularity, especially as 

 a winter amusement, and possesses many of the advantages of 

 other games, without that element of danger which is found, 

 for instance, in football and hockey. An accidental blow 

 from the light stick with which the crosse is fashioned could 

 cause no serious hurt, and beyond this, or the chance of an 

 occasional fall, there is nothing to cause incidental injury to 

 the players. 



We conclude our notice of the game with an anecdote, from 

 which it will be seen that it once was on the point of endanger- 

 ing the English rule in Canada. About the middle of the last 

 century, after the conquest by Wolfe, the Indian chief Pontiac 

 planned an attack on some of the principal forts, which was to 

 be carried out by stratagem through the medium of " la crosse/' 

 The known skill of the Indians in the game frequently induced 

 the officers of the garrison to invite them to play when they were 

 in the locality, and occasionally some hundreds were engaged. 

 Pontiac designed, on one of these occasions, that the ball should 

 be struck, as if accidentally, into the forts, and that a few of 

 the Indian party should enter after it. This was to be repeated 

 two or three times, until suspicion was lulled, when they were to 

 strike it over again, and rush in large numbers in pursuit. They 

 were then to fall upon the garrison with concealed weapons. 

 This ruse was carried into effect, and partially succeeded ; but 

 the Indians failed to enter the strongest of the fortifications, 

 and were beaten back with much slaughter. Pontiac afterwards 

 made friends with the English, but he was a treacherous ally, 

 and it was a subject of congratulation when he was at last 

 killed by one of his own race. 



