cuLIN] RACKET: HURON 589 
an enemy when engaged in war, and unless previously informed that they were 
at play one would truly believe them to be fighting. 
Whatever accident the game may cause is attributed to luck, and there is in 
consequence no hard feeling between the players. The wounded seem as well 
satisfied as if nothing had happened to them, thus demonstrating that they have 
plenty of courage and that they are men. 
They take what they have wagered and their winnings, and there is no dis- 
pute on either side when it comes to a question of payment, no matter what 
game they play. If, however, anyone who does not belong in the game, or who 
has bet nothing, hits the ball, thus giving any advantage to either side, one of 
the players on the other side will upbraid the outsider, asking him if the game 
is any affair of his and why he meddles with it. They often come to blows, and, 
if some chief does. not pacify them, blood may be spilled or even some one killed. 
The best way to prevent such disorderly occurrences is to begin the game anew, 
with the consent of those who are ahead, for if they refuse to do so they have 
the advantage. When some prominent man takes part in the dispute, it is not 
difficult to arrange their differences and induce them to follow his advice. ; 
Baron La Hontan says: 
They have a third play with a ball not unlike our tennis, but the balls are 
very large, and the rackets resemble ours, save that the handle is at least 3 feet 
long. The savages, who commonly play at it in large companies of three or four 
hundred at a time, fix two sticks at 500 or 600 paces distant from each other. 
They divide into two equal parties, and toss up the ball about halfway between 
the two sticks. Each party endeavors to toss the ball to their side; some run 
to the ball, and the rest keep at a little distance on both sides to assist on all 
quarters. In fine, this game is so violent that they tear their skins and break 
their legs very often in striving to raise the ball. All these games are made 
enly for feasts or other trifling entertainments; for “tis to be observed that as 
they hate money, so they never put it in the balance, and one may say interest 
is never the occasion of debates among them. 
Heron. Thonatiria, or St Joseph, near Thunder bay, Ontario. 
Jean de Brébeuf says: ” 
Of three kinds of games especially in use among these peoples—namely, the 
games of crosse, dish, and straw, the first two are, they say, most healing. Is 
not this worthy of compassion? There is a poor sick man, fevered of body and 
almost dying, and a miserable sorcerer will order for him, as a cooling remedy, 
a game of crosse. Or the sick man himself, sometimes, will have dreamed that 
he must die unless the whole country shall play crosse for his health; and no 
matter how little may be his credit, you will see then in a beautiful field, vil- 
lage contending against village as to who will play crosse the better, and betting 
against one another beaver robes and porcelain collars, so as to excite greater 
interest. Sometimes, also, one of these jugglers will say that the whole country 
is sick, and he asks a game of crosse to heal it; no more needs to be said, it is 
published immediately everywhere; and all the captains of each village give 
orders that all the young men do their duty in this respect, otherwise some great 
misfortune would befall the whole country.¢ 
@ New Voyages to North-America, v. 2, p. 18, London, 1703. 
» Relation of 1636. The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, y. 10, p. 185, Cleve 
land, 1897. 
¢ Brébeuf describes all the affairs of the Huron as included under two heads: 
The first are, as it were, affairs of state—-whatever may concern either citizens or 
strangers, the public or the individuals of the village; as, for example, feas dances, 
games, crosse matches, and funeral ceremonies. The second are affairs of war. Now 
there are as many sorts of Captains as of affairs. (Ibid., p. 229.) 
