BUSSELL] 



ATHLETIC SPORTS 



173 



are made of mesquite or paloverde wood (fig. 87, a, b). Stone balls 

 about 6 cm. in iliameter are also used, covered with the same black 

 gum (fig. SS, a, h). 



Each contestant kicks one of these balls before him, doing it so 

 skillfull}' that his progress is scarcely delayed; indeed, the Pinias 

 declare that they can run faster with than without the balls, which 

 in a sense is true. Perhaps 

 the occurrence of the stone 

 balls in the ruins gave rise to 

 the idea that they possessed 

 magic power to "carry" the 

 runner along, for all things 

 pertaining to the Hohokam 

 have come to have more or 

 less supernatural significance. 

 Two youths will sometimes 

 run long distances together, 

 first one and then the other 



kicking the ball, so that it is almost constantly in the air. The cus- 

 tom of using these balls is rapidly disappearing, as, it is to be regretted, 

 are the other athletic games of the Pimas. 



Fig. 87. Kicking balls, a. Wood covorod with gum: 

 b. without covering. 



REL.W RACES 



At various points in Arizona the writer has found what appear to 

 have been ancient race tracks situated near the ruins of buildings. 

 One of these was seen on the south bank of the Babacomari, ;^ miles 



above the site of old Fort Wallcn. It 

 is 5 m. wide and 275 m. long. It is lev- 

 eled by cutting down in places and the 

 rather numerous bowlders of the mesa 

 are cleared away. In the Sonoita val- 

 ley, '_' miles east of Patagonia, there is 

 a small ruin with what may have l)een a 

 race track. It is 6 m. wide and ISOm. 

 long. At the northern end stands a 

 sejuarc stone '37 cm. above the surface. 

 These will serve as examples of the 

 tracks used by the Sobaipuris, a tribe 

 belonging to the Piman stock. The dimensions are about the same 

 as those of the tracks that the wTiter has seen the Jicarilla Apaches 

 using in New Mexico. The tracks prepared by the Pimas opposite 

 Sacaton Flats and at Casa Blanca are nmch longer. 



The relay races of the Pimas did not differ materially from those 

 among the Puelilo tribes of the Rio Grande or the Apaches and others 

 of the Southwest. When a village wished to race with a neighboring 



Fig. S8. Kicking halls, o, Stone covered 

 with gum: b. without covering. 



