212 COLLECTOR'S RAMBLES 



retreated very much as in actual combat. In all these 

 games, the chief played a prominent part. 



I remember one game in particular, that showed a 

 great deal of skill. The space in front of our house 



was almost as level as 

 a billiard table, and a 

 party of young men, each 

 armed with a spear seven 

 or eight feet long, would 

 stand at one end of this 

 space. One of the party 

 would roll a pumpkin 

 the size of a man's head 

 along the ground with 

 all the force he could 

 command ; a shower of 

 spears would follow it, 

 and the one who pinned 

 it to the ground had the 

 rolling of the pumpkin 



PAPUAN DRILL. 



the next time. Some- 

 times every spear hit the pumpkin, and it would be 

 split into fragments. 



We instructed the inhabitants in the game called 

 "leap-frog," and it became a favorite with them. In 

 this sport, the women were as enthusiastic as the men. 

 Some would stoop to the very ground, while others 

 only slightly bent their backs, and the frog conse- 



