1G PERFORATED STONES 



flaming implements. — From the half-breed above mentioned I learned 

 that by the Indians about San Buenaventura and on the islands many 

 of the stone disks were used in a game called itiirursh. He certainly 

 had a tolerably clear idea of the game, and gave a rather full account 

 of it and of the court or prepared ground where it was played. His ac- 

 count was in brief as follows : A piece of level ground was selected for 

 the court, which was made very smooth and hard and was bounded by 

 four upright corner stones or stakes. The wooden lance employed was 

 six or seven feet long and tapered at one end to a small point. At one 

 corner of the court was stationed a man with a pile of disks, whose 

 business it was to cast the disks. The player, lance in hand, stood on 

 one side of the court, near the middle. Running a little distance the 

 pitcher rolled a disk swiftly across the court, when the lance man darted 

 forward and cast his lance, the object being to transfix the disk as it 

 rolled past. A successful throw counted one point, ten being the game. 

 Dr. W. J. Hoffman was informed that at Santa Barbara the bow and ar- 

 row were in use in this game in place of the lance, the object being to 

 shoot the arrow through the rolling disk. 



The game was usually played with two on a side, though occasionally 

 four on each side took part. As is the case with nearly all Indian 

 games, itiirursh was a great gambling game, and large amounts of " shell 

 money" and other property were frequently staked on the chances of a 

 single contest. 



The perforated disk from California best adapted to play this game 



^^~~- —' : - : -.r "-~-—~ -^ would seem to be. the thin, flat variety, with 



£ , . ^illsisg,-'' \ rather large, perforation, of which Fig. 9 is a 



H - ' • ' '" .< good illustration. 



\J. -J The San IJuenaventura Indian women, 



^^^ u ^-^_^i li L^^^ whom I have quoted above as to the digging 

 fig. 9. Perforated stone from South- sticks, were familiar with this game, but 



cm Califordia, used in the game of , , . . . ., , . . „ 



itlinnsh they affirmed that in their tribes the " hoop 77 



used in playing the game was made of "twisted deerskin," twisted 

 probably over a hoop of willow or other pliant wood. Precisely the 

 same kind of hoop was used by some of the Tulare tribes to the east 

 of the mountains and by the Indians of San Juan Mission, far to 

 the northeast, as was affirmed by two women from these respective 

 localities. It was also employed for the same game by the Indians 

 of Los Angeles County, where the game was called "hararicuar" 

 (W. J. Hoffman, in Bull. Essex Inst., XVII, p. 18, 1885). In a myth 

 of the latter Indians (ibid.), given by Dr. Hoffman, occurs a mention 

 of this willow buckskin ring, which seems to imply that its importance 

 had invested it with mysterious powers or, perhaps, that it originated 

 in the hands of the medicine man, and that its employment in the 

 game above alluded to was in the nature of a secondary use. The 

 myth runs as follows, page 21: 



