CULIN] RACKET: SENECA 593 
In preparing for this game the players denuded themselves entirely, with the 
exception of the waistcloth@ . . . They also underwent, frequently. a course 
of diet and training, as in a preparation for a foot-race. 
When the day designated had arrived the people gathered from the whole 
surrounding country, to witness the contest. About meridian they assembled 
at the appointed place, and having separated themselves into two companies, 
one might be seen upon each side of the line, between the gates, arranged in 
scattered groups, awaiting the commencement of the game. The players, when 
ready, stationed themselves in two parallel rows, facing each other, midway on 
this line, each one holding a ball bat, of the kind represented in the figure, and 
with which alone the ball was to be driven. As soon as all the preliminaries 
were adjusted, the ball was dropped between the two files of players, and taken 
between the bats of the two who stood in the middle of each file, opposite to each 
other. After a brief struggle between them, in which each player endeavored, 
with his bat, to get possession of the ball, and give it the first impulse towards 
his own gate, it was thrown out, and then commenced the pursuit. The fying 
ball, when overtaken, was immediately surrounded by a group of players, each 
one striving to extricate it, and, at the same time, direct it towards his party 
gate. In this way the ball was frequently imprisoned in different parts of the 
field, and an animated controversy maintained for its possession. When freed, 
it was knocked upon the ground or through the air; but the moment a chance 
presented it was taken up upon the deer-skin network of the ball bat by a player 
in full career, and carried in a race towards the gate. To guard against this 
contingency. by which one contest of the game might be determined in a moment, 
some of the players detached themselves from the group contending around the 
ball, and took a position from which to intercept a runner upon a diagonal line, 
if it should chance that one of the adverse party got possession of the ball. 
These races often formed the most exciting part of the game, both from the 
fleetness of the runners, and the consequences which depended upon the result. 
When the line of the runner was crossed, by an adversary coming in before him 
upon a diagonal line, and he found it impossible, by artifice or stratagem, to 
elude him, he turned about, and threw the ball over the heads of both of them, 
towards his gate; or, perchance, towards a player of his own party, if there were 
adverse players between him and the gate. When the flight of the ball was 
arrested in any part of the field, a spirited and even fierce contest was main- 
tained around it; the players handled their bats with such dexterity, and man- 
aged their persons with such art and adroitness, that frequently several minutes 
elapsed before the ball flew out. Occasionally in the heat of the controversy, 
but entirely by accident, a player was struck with such violence that the blood 
trickled down his limbs. In such a case, if disabled, he dropped his bat and left 
the field, while a fresh player from his own party supplied his place. In this 
manner was the game contested: oftentimes with so much ardor and skill that 
the ball was recovered by one party at the very edge of the adverse gate; and 
finally, after many shifts in the tide of success, carried in triumph through its 
own. When one contest in the game was thus decided, the prevailing party 
sent up a united shout of rejoicing. 
After a short respite for the refreshment of the players, the second trial was 
commenced, and continued like the first. Sometimes it was decided in a few 
moments, but more frequently it lasted an hour, and sometimes much longer, to 
«The gii-kii or waist-cloth, was a strip of deerskin or broadcloth, about a quarter 
wide and 2 yards long, ornamented at the ends with bead- or quill-work. It was passed 
between the limbs and secured by a deerskin belt, passing around the waist, the em 
broidered ends falling over the belt, before and behind, in the fashion of an apron. 
24 ETH—05 M 38 
