420 GAMES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS [nru. ann. 24 
feather stuck in it is sid along the ice. He said also another game is 
played in summer, to which the same name is given, with sticks about 
3 feet long by one-half of an inch in diameter, which are peeled and 
burned. They are forcibly thrown down on the ground and fly a 
great distance. Mr La Flesche described also a game played by 
Omaha boys under the name of intimbuta, in which a stick of 
hickory, scraped, polished, and whittled down, is thrown on the 
frozen ground so that it flies like an arrow. 
HOOP AND POLE 
ne game of hoop and pole, like the dice game, was played through- 
out the entire continent north of Mexico. It consists essentially in 
throwing a spear, or shooting or throwing an arrow at a hoop or 
ring, the counts being determined by the way in which the darts fall 
with reference to the target. 
The game is remarkable for the wide diversity in the form of the 
implements employed, as well as in the method of play. A number 
of distinct types may be recognized, of which as many as three are 
found at the present day among the same tribe. The essential unity 
of all of these, however, is plainly manifest. 
The implements for hoop and pole consist of the hoop or target, the 
darts or poles, and, in some instances, especially made counting sticks. 
A common and most widely distributed form of the hoop is twined 
with a network resembling a spider web, the counts being determined 
by the particular holes which are penetrated by the darts. In another 
hoop the net, with the exception of an inner ring, which is attached 
by cords to the hoop, has disappeared. In still others, among the Ta- 
kulli, Wasco, Omaha, and Tigua, there remain only four radial spokes 
or strands. In the Apache game these are reduced te a single median 
thong or cord, but notches on the hoop suggest the points of contact 
of the thong lashings. One of the Siouan hoops, known also to the 
Arapaho, has four sets of equidistant notches on its circumference. 
These notches agree with the marks of the world quarters on the cane 
dice and on the tubes of the hidden-ball game. 
In another group of the hoop games we find a small ring with beads 
of different colors set at equidistant points around its inner side. 
Different values are attributed to these beads, which count accord- 
ingly. On other small rings, as among the Pawnee, a single smal] 
bead is threaded on the interior of the ring. Marks indicating the 
quarters are found upon some hoops, while others are entirely plain. 
The materials of the rings are equally varied. The netted hoop 
usually consists of a sapling lashed with rawhide. Other hoops are 
twined with cord (Mohave) or beads (Ute), and still others have a 
