INDIAN GAMES. 93 



this that the player picks up and throws the ball used 

 in the game, which should be about eight or nine inches 

 in circumference. The ball is placed in the centre of the 

 field by the umpire, and when the game is called, the op- 

 posing players strive to get possession of it with their 

 rackets. The play consists in running with it and throw- 

 ing it, with the design of driving it between the adversary's 

 goal posts ; and in defensive action, the purpose of which is 

 to prevent the opponents from accomplishing similar de- 

 signs on their part. As the wind or the sunlight may 

 favor one side or the other on any field, provision is gen- 

 erally made for a change of goals during the match. The 

 stations of the players and the minor rules of the game 

 are unimportant in this connection. 



The oldest attempt at a detailed description of the game 

 is given by Nicolas Perrot who from 1662 to 1699 spent 

 the greater part of his time as coureur de bois, trader, or 

 government agent, among the Indians of the far West. 

 It is of him that Abbe Ferland says, " Courageous man, 

 honest writer and good observer, Perrot lived for a long 

 time among the Indians of the West who were very much 

 attached to him." His accounts of the manners and cus- 

 toms of the North American Indians have been liberally 

 used by subsequent writers and as the part treating of 

 games is not only very full but also covers a very early 

 period of history, it is doubly interesting for purposes of 

 comparison with games of a later day. He 5 says, " The 

 savages have many kinds of games in which they delight. 

 Their natural fondness for them is so great that they will 

 neglect food and drink, not only to join in a game but 

 even to look at one. There is among them a certain game 



5 M^moire surles Moeurs, Coustumes et Rclligion des Sanvages de 1'Amerique 

 Septeutrionalc, par Nicolas Perrot, Leipzig et Paris, 18C4, p. 43, et seq. 



