336 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH. ANN. 18 
conspicuous marks are made on the snow or ground which serve as 
goals, the players stand each by their goal and the ball is tossed upon 
the ground midway between them; a rush is then made, each side 
striving to drive the ball across its adversaries’ line. 
Another football game is begun by the men standing in two close, 
parallel lines midway between the goals, their legs and bodies forming 
two walls. The ball is then thrown between them and driven back 
and forth by kicks and blows until it passes through one of the lines; 
as soon as this occurs all rush to drive it to one or the other of the 
goals. 
The northern lights (aurora) of winter are said by these people to be 
boys playing this game; others say that it is a game being played by 
shades using walrus skulls as balls. 
WOMEN’S FOOTBALL (iif-kiil/-i-g?it)—(St Michael and neighboring 
coast region, both north and south), This game is played by women 
usually during the fall and winter. The ball used is generally consid- 
erably larger than the one used in the men’s game. The four players 
stand opposite each other, thus— 
Each pair has a ball, which is thrown or driven back and forth across 
the square. The ball is thrown upon the ground midway between the 
players, so that it shall bound toward the opposite one. She strikes the 
ball down and back toward her partner with the palm of her open hand. 
Sometimes the ball is caught on the toe or hand and tossed up and 
struck or kicked back toward the other side. The person who misses 
least or has fewer “dead” balls on her side wins. At times this game 
is played by only two women. 
HAND BALL (kai-tél/-v-g’it)—(St Michael). The ball used in this 
game is a rounded rectangular leather bag about three by six inches, 
filled with sand or earth. This bag is called kai/-tuk. The young men 
of the village form one side in this game, tossing the ball from one to 
the other, while the young women are on the opposite side and strive 
to secure the bag and keep it going among themselves, .A player on 
the same side as another is called i-li/-ka (plural, 7-li/-put) and the oppo- 
nents are called i-li-kil/-w-it. Itis playedin May and June, during the 
long, pleasant twilight nights, sometimes lasting the entire night. 
When one of the young men has chanced not to have the ball in his 
hand for a long time, his comrades cry out that he is “hungry” and try 
to get the balltohim. ‘The women exert every effort to intercept it and 
