454 MYTHS OF THE THKROKEE (eth. anx.ID 



unlawful til lie eaten." The niixeil feeling ni fear and reverence for all night birds 

 is universal among the Western tribes. Owls particularly are believed to bring pro- 

 phetic tidings to the few great conjurers who can interpret their langnage. 



The hawk — This, being a bird of prey, was never eaten. The following incident i.s 

 related by Adair, probably from the Chickasaw; " Not long ago when the Indiana 

 were making their winter's hunt and the old women were without fiesh meat at 

 home, I shot a small fat hawk and desired one of them to take and dress it; but 

 though I strongly imjiortuned her by way of trial, she as earnestly refused it for fear 

 of contracting pollution, which she called the 'accursed sickness,' supposing disease 

 would be the necessary effect of such an impurity" (Hist. Am. Indians, p. 130). 



Clvrkadee and titmouse — Adair speaks.of having once observed a party of Southern 

 Indians "to lie intimidated at the voice of a small uncommon bird, when it pitched 

 and chirjied on a tree over their camp" (op. cit., p. 26). At a conference with the 

 Six Nations at Albany in 1775 the Oneida speaker said: "We, the Six Nations, have 

 heard the voice of a bird called Tskleleli {TslkVM't), a news carrier, that came 

 among us. It has told us that the path at the western connection, by Fort Stanwix, 

 would be shut up by either one party or the other." In reply, the commissioners 

 said: "We apprehend the bird Tskleleli has been busy again; he seems to be a mis- 

 chievous bird and ought not to be nourished or entertained " (New York Colonial 

 Documents, viii, pp. 612, 628, 1857). The bird name is in the Oneida dialect. 

 Bruyas gives teksereri as the ]\Iohawk name for the tomtit. 



36. The ball game of the birds and animals (p. 286): This is one of the best- 

 know-n animal stories and was heard with more or less of detail from John Ax, Swim- 

 mer, Suyeta, and A'wani'ta in the east, and from AVafford in the Territory. 



The Creeks and the Seminoles also, as we learn from the Tuggle manuscript collec- 

 tion, have stories of ball games by the birds against the fourfooted animals. In one 

 story the bat is rejected by both sides, but is finally accepted liy the fourfooted 

 animals on account of his having teeth, and enables them to win the victory from 

 the birds. 



The hdUplaii — Theballplay, aiie'tsd, is tlie great athletic game of the Cherokee and 

 the Gulf tribes, as well as with those of the St Lawrence and Great lakes. It need 

 hardly be stated that it is notour own game of base ball, but rather a variety of ten- 

 nis, the ball being thrown, not from the hand, but from a netted racket or pair of 

 rackets. The goals are two sets of upright poles at either end of the ball ground, 

 which is always a level grassy liottoni beside a small stream. There is much accom- 

 panying ceremonial and conjuration, with a ball dance, in which the women take 

 part, the night before. It is the same game by which the hostile tribes gained 

 entrance to the British post at Mackinaw in 1763, and under the name of lacrosse has 

 become the national game of Canada. It has also been adopted liy the French Cre- 

 oles of Louisiana under the name of raquette. In British Cohnnbia it is held to be 

 the favorite amusement of the people of the underworld (Teit, Thompson River 

 Trailitions, p. 116). In the southern states the numerous localities bearing the names 

 of "Ballplay," "Ball fiat," and "Ball ground," bear witness to the Indian fondness 

 for the game. Large sums were staked upon it, and there is even a tradition that 

 a considerable territory in northern Georgia was won from the Creeks by the 

 Cherokee in a liall game. For an extended ■description see the the author's article 

 "The Clierokee Ball Play," in the American Anthrojiologist for April, 1890. 



IT'tin tlie game — On account of their successful work on this occasion the Cherokee 

 ballplayer invokes the aid of the bat and the flying squirrel, and also ties a small piece 

 of the bat's wing to his ball stick or fastens it to the frame over which the sticks are 

 hung during the preliminary dance the night before. 



Gave the martin a gourd — The black house-martin is a favorite w'ith the Cherokee, 

 who attract it by fastening IkiIIow gourds to the tops of long poles set up near their 

 houses so that the birds may build their nests in theui. lu South Carolina, as far 



