INDIAN GAMES. 101 



wards. The party that happens to throw the ball over 

 these counts one ; but if it be thrown underneath, it is 

 cast back and played for as usual." The ball is to be 

 thrown "through the lower part" of the two poles which 

 are fixed across each other at about one hundred and fifty 

 feet apart, according to Romans. In Bossu's account it is 

 "between" the two great poles which distinguish the mark 

 or aim, that "the ball is to pass." On the other hand, 

 Bartram, describing what he saw in North Carolina, speaks 

 of the ball "being hurled into the air, midway between the 

 two high pillars which are the goals, and the party who 

 bears off the ball to their pillar wins the game." 



In some parts of the south each player had two rackets 

 between which the ball was caught. For this purpose 

 they were necessarily shorter than the cross of the north- 

 ern Indians. Adair says, "The ball sticks are about two 

 feet long, the lower end somewhat resembling the palm of 

 a hand, and which are worked with deer-skin thongs. Be- 

 tween these they catch the ball, and throw it a great dis- 

 tance." 26 



That this was not universal throughout the south would 

 appear from Bossu's account who says, "Every one has a 

 battledoor in his hand about two feet and a half long, made 

 very nearly in the form of ours, of walnut, or chestnut 

 wood, and covered with roe-skins." Bartram also says 

 that each person has "a racquet or hurl, which is an imple- 

 ment of a very curious construction somewhat resemblino- 

 a ladle or little hoop net, with a handle near three feet in 

 length, the hoop and handle of wood and the netting of 

 thongs of raw-hide or tendons of an animal." 



Catlin 27 saw the game played by the Choctaws on their 



Adair, p. 400 ; A Narrative of the Military Adventures of Colonel Marinns Wil- 

 lett, p. 109. 



^'Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs and Condition of the North Amer- 

 ican Indians, by George Catlin, Vol. n, p. 123 et seq. 



