484 



GAMES 



[B. A. E. 



being the shaftments of arrows painted 

 or burned with marks corresponding with 

 those used to designate the arrows of the 

 four world-quarters. In one of the earUest 

 forms of the guessing game the number of 

 the places of concealment was four, and 

 the implements used in hiding were de- 

 rived from the four marked arrow shaft- 

 ments. In general, in all Indian games, 

 the arrow or the bow, or some derivative 

 of them, is found to be the predominant 

 implement, and the conceptions of the 

 four world-quarters the fundamental idea. 

 From this it became apparent that the 

 relation of the games to each other in the 

 same area, and of each to its counterpart 

 among all the tribes, was largely depen- 

 dent on their common origin in cere- 

 monies from which games produced as 

 amusements were uniformly derived. 

 Back of each game is found a ceremony 

 in which the game was a significant 

 part. The ceremony has commonly dis- 

 appeared; the game survives as an amuse- 

 ment, but often with traditions and ob- 

 servances which serve to connect it with 

 its original purpose. The ceremonies 

 appear to have been to cure sickness, to 

 cause fertilization and reproduction of 

 plants and animals, and, in the arid re- 

 gion, to produce rain. Gaming imple- 

 ments are among the most significant 

 objects that are placed upon many Hopi 

 altars, and constantly reappear as parts 

 of the masks, headdresses, and other 

 ceremonial adornments of the Indians 

 generally. These ol^servations hold true 

 both of the athletic games as well as of 

 the game of chance. The ball w'as a 

 sacred object not to be touched with the 

 hand, and has been identified as sym- 

 bolizing the earth, the sun, or the moon. 

 In the ring-and-pole game, the original 

 form of the ring was a netted hoop de- 

 rived from the spider web, the emblem 

 of the Earth mother. The performance 

 of the game was bound up with ceremo- 

 nies of reproduction and fertility. In 

 the kicked-stick and l)all-race games of 

 the S. W., the primary object seems to 

 have been to protect the crops against 

 sand storms within the circuit traversed. 



Following are brief descriptions of the 

 principal games played by the Indians n. 

 of Mexico: 



Arrow games. — A variety of games was 

 played with actual arrows. In one of 

 the commonest, an arrow was tossed with 

 the hand by one of the players and the 

 others then threw at it and endeavored 

 to cause their arrows to fall across it. 



Ball games. — The two common ball 

 games which are widely distributed are 

 racket ball, a man's game played with 

 one or two netted bats or rackets, and 

 shinny, commonly played by women. 



In addition, women had a game with a 

 double or tied ball which was tossed with 



long slen- 

 der rods. 

 In all of 

 these it 

 was not 

 permitted 

 to touch 

 the ball 

 with the 

 hands. 

 Among 

 the Plains tribes the women played with 

 a small buckskin-covered ball of buffalo 

 hair. [See Ball play.) 



DOUBLE BALL AND STICK 



Bowl game. — A kind of dice game 

 widely played by women among the 

 Algonquian, Iro- 

 quois, Sioux, and 

 other northern 

 tribes. The dice 

 consist of bone 

 disks, or of peach or 

 plum stones, which 

 are tossed in a 

 wooden bowl or a 

 basket. Some Cali- 

 fornia tribes use a 

 large flat basket. - 



Cat's cradle. — The 

 trick of weaving patterns with string up- 

 on the fingers, which we call cat's cradle, 

 is very generally known, but the designs 

 are different and much more intricate. 



Bowl Game 



BASKET DICE GAME 



The Zuni and Navaho attribute the origin 

 of this amusement to the spider and asso- 

 ciate the figures with the spider-web net 

 shield of the war gods. 



Children'' s games. — Indian children play 

 a variety of games, which are practically 

 identical with those played by the chil- 

 dren of civilization. They are all mi- 

 metic in their character, and have no re- 

 lation to the ceremonial and divinatory 

 games of their elders, except so far as 

 they may be imitations of them. (See 

 Amusements, Child life.) 



Chunkey. — The ring-and-pole game of 

 the Creeks and neighboring tribes, in 

 which a stone ring or disk was employed. 

 From specimens of the stones found in 



