20 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 48 



references and accounts of the game. A variation of the game as now played when 

 there are few players was witnessed by the writer at Bayou Lacomb in February, 

 1909. This was played in the following manner: 



To'le. — The players were divided into two equal groups, or sides, which may be 

 designated A and B. Two stakes, each about 10 feet in height and only a few inches 

 in diameter, served as goals; these were about 200 feet apart. One-third of the A 

 players were on the B side of the field and one-third of the B players were near their 

 opponents' goal. One player belonging to each side remained in the middle of the 

 field. The ball was put in play by being thrown from one end of the field to the two 

 players in the middle. No rackets were used, the ball being caught in the hands and 

 thrown or held while the player endeavored to reach his opponents' goal. To score 

 a point a player was required to touch the goal post with the ball, or if the ball was 

 thrown and hit the post, the play likewise counted. The first side to score a chosen 

 number of points won the game. This game is seldom played, and the older game, 

 formerly played with rackets (kapocha), has not been played for several years. 



During the hot months of the year a favorite pastime of the boys 

 and men consisted in trying to swim bhndfolded a wide stream to a 

 certain point on the opposite bank. The first to reach the goal was 

 declared the winner. 



Somewhat similar amusement participated in by the boys and 

 young men consisted in rolling down hills while wrapped and tied in 

 blankets or skins, the first to reach a certain line being the winner. 

 As there are few hills in the vicinity of Bayou I.acomb, they resorted 

 to the sloping banks of streams or bayous, but avoided the water. 



At the present time both men and children play marbles, drawing 

 rings on the ground and following the child's game. 



The children play also ''tag" after the manner of white children. 



Various other games and pastimes were undoubtedly known and 

 practised in former days, but these have been forgotten by the Choc- 

 taw of whom this paper treats. The game of chunglie may never 

 have been in vogue with them, although it was played extensively by 

 the main part of the Choctaw tribe. 



The woman's game described by Captain Romans in 1775 " is not 

 known to them. 



Dances and Music 



The Choctaw living at Bayou Lacomb have one dance ceremony, 

 which is in reality a series of seven distinct dances, performed in rota- 

 tion and always in the same order. These dances are as follows: 



1. Ndnena hiikla (Man dance) 



All lock arms and form a ring; all sing and the ring revolves rapidly. No one 

 remains in the ring. 



2. Shatene hitkla (Tick dance) 



The dancers lock arms and form in straight lines (pi. 21). First they move for- 

 ward two or three steps, then backward, but they gradually advance. When they 



a See Stewart Culin, Games of the North American Indians, in Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the 

 Bureau of American Ethnology, 709, 1907. 



