588 GAMES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS  [eTH. any. 24 
“Tt is usual at these ball-plays for each party to leave their conjurers at work 
at the time the game is going on; their stations are near the center of each line. 
In their hands are shells, bones of snakes, etc. These conjurers are sent for 
from a great distance. They are estimated according to their age, and it is sup- 
posed by their charms they can influence the game. On this occasion two con- 
jurers were present; they appeared to be over 100 years of age. When I spoke 
to one of them he did not deign even to raise his head; the second time [ 
spoke he gave me a terrible look, and at the same time one of the Indian women 
came and said, ‘ Conagatee unaka,’ ‘Go away, white man.’ ” 
Huron. Ontario. 
Nicolas Perrot says, under jeu de crosse: 
They have a certain game played with a bat, which greatly resembles our 
game of tennis. Their custom is to pit one nation against another, and if one is 
more numerous than the other, a certain number of men are withdrawn to render 
the sides equal. They are all armed with a bat—that is to say, a stick—the 
lower end of which is enlarged and laced like a racket. The ball is of wood and 
shaped very much like a turkey egg. 
The goals are laid out in the open country, and face east and west, south and 
porth. One of the parties, in order to win, must make the ball pass beyond the 
east and west goals, while the other party plays for the north and south goals. 
Tf anyone who has won once makes the ball pass beyond the wrong goal, he is 
obliged to begin again, taking his adversary’s goal. If he happens to win again, 
he gains nothing. ‘Then, the parties being equal and the game even, they begin 
the deciding game, and the successful side takes the stakes. Men and women, 
young boys, and girls all play on one side or the other, and make bets according 
to their means. 
These games usually begin after the disappearance of the snow and ice and 
continue till seed time. The games are played in the afternoon, and the captain 
of each team harangues his players and announces the hour fixed for beginning 
the game. At the appointed time they gather in a crowd in the center of the 
field, and one of the two captains, having the ball in his hand, tosses it up in 
the air, each player trying to send it in the proper direction. If the ball falls to 
the ground, they try to pull it toward themselves with their bats, and should it 
fall outside the crowd of players, the most active of them win distinction by 
following closely after it. They make a great noise striking one against the 
other when they try to parry strokes in order to drive the ball in the proper 
direction. If a player keeps the ball between his feet and is unwilling to let it 
go, he must guard against the blows his adversaries continually aim at his 
feet; if he happens to be wounded, it is his own fault. Legs and arms are 
sometimes broken, and it has even happened that a player has been killed. It 
is quite common to see some one crippled for the rest of his life who would not 
have had this misfortune but for his own obstinacy. When these accidents 
bappen the unlucky victim quietly withdraws from the game, if he is in a condi- 
tion to do so; but if his injury will not permit this, his relatives carry him 
home, and the game goes on till it is finished, as if nothing had occurred. 
As to the runners, when the sides are equal, sometimes neither side will win 
during the entire afternoon, and, again, one side may gain both of the two 
games necessary to win. In this racing game it looks as if the two sides were 
about to engage in battle. This exercise contributes much toward rendering the 
savages agile and quick to avoid adroitly a blow of a tomahawk in the hands of 
«Mémoire sur les Moeurs, Coustumes et Relligion des Sauvyages de l’'Amérique Septen- 
trionale, p. 48, Leipzig, 1864. 
