92 INDIAN GAMES. 



by means of which to lull the suspicions of the enemy and 

 to gain access to their forts. 



The descriptions of lacrosse which have been transmitted 

 to us, would often prove unintelligible to one who had 

 never seen the game played. The writers of the accounts 

 which have come down to us from the early part of the 

 seventeenth century were men whose lives were spent 

 among the scenes which they described and they had but 

 little time, and few opportunities for careful writing. The 

 individual records though somewhat confused enable us 

 easily to identify the game, and a comparison of the 

 different accounts shows how thoroughly the main features 

 of the game have been preserved. 



Lacrosse is played to-day as follows : The number of 

 players on the opposing sides should be equal. Regular 

 stations are assigned in the rules for playing the game, 

 for twelve on each side. Goals, each consisting of two 

 upright posts or staffs, generally about six feet apart and 

 of equal height, are planted at each end of the field. The 

 length of the field and its bounds are determined by the 

 character of the ground and the skill of the players. 

 The effort of each side is to prevent the ball from passing 

 through the goal assigned to its protection, and equally to 

 try to drive it through the opposite goal. Under no cir- 

 cumstances can the ball be touched during the game, 

 while within the bounds, by the hands of the players. 

 Each player has a racket, the length of which, though op- 

 tional, is ordinarily from four to five feet. One end of 

 this racket or bat is curved like a shepherd's crook, and 

 from the curved end a thong is carried across to a point 

 on the handle about midway its length. In the space 

 thus enclosed between the thong and the handle, which at 

 its broadest part should not exceed a foot in width, a flat 

 network is interposed. This forms the bat. It is with 



