CULIN] RACKET: CHOCTAW 603 
themselves conspicuous to their own side in the hope they would be chosen the 
next day. Before retiring, the managers on each side and the principal players 
assembled to make regulations to govern the play. They sat in a circle, and, 
no matter how heated the argument became, a speaker was never interrupted 
by one of the opposite side. There were about 250 Indians present, about 
evenly divided on each side, being chiefly men, with a few women and children. 
Each side brought with them a conjurer, or medicine man. At about 7 o'clock 
on the following morning the managers assembled for some purpose, after which 
they collected their sides, and took their places, a little apart, to prepare for 
the play. They stripped for the game, putting on nothing but a breech clout. 
Their heads were bare, with the hair cut short, without feathers. Their only 
ornament was a coon tail stuck up straight along the spine, or a horse tail 
falling on the breech clout behind. This was attached to the belt, a leather 
strap or revolver belt. The men carry their weapons to the ball game, but are 
not allowed to wear them in the field. The majority of the players were of 
splendid physique, spare and wiry. Several were, in part, of negro blood, and 
many showed the result of intermixture with the whites. The sides each num- 
bered 80, of ages varying from 18 to 35. Among them were some that were 
crippled, the result, it may be, of former play. 
The goal posts, which the ball must touch, were about 200 to 225 yards apart. 
They consisted of two trees, lashed together with ropes. They were about 8 
inches in diameter, and were cut flat on one side, and were set at an angle so 
that they presented a face of about 12 inches to the ball. This must hit the post, 
to which it may be carried between a player's sticks, but it must bounce over a 
line in front of the posts, otherwise it does not count and is still in play. 
The conjurers were conspicuous throughout the game. At the commencement, 
after the sides were chosen, all went to their goal posts. When within about 
10 feet of the posts they broke their formation, and, uttering a cry, ran up to 
the posts, battering them with their ball sticks. They did this to scare the 
spirit of bad luck away. 
Then they lined up in a kind of alley between the goals. Near the middle of 
the field, however, there were about eight men of each side ranged opposite to 
each other in a line running horizontally across the goal line. When all the 
others were ready, the men who were to take these places crossed the field. A 
medicine man put the ball in play, tossing it into the air. One of them had 
his face painted half red and half black, and carried in his hand a small branch 
of a tree resembling hickory. They both stood near their respective goals and 
sung and clapped their hands. The game lasted from 10 to 5, with an inter- 
mission for luncheon. The score is 12 goals, but if this number is not com- 
pleted on either side, the one having the highest number is adjudged the winner. 
Butting with the head is prohibited, under a penalty of 5 goals. 
The Indians bet everything they possess upon the game, even to their clothes 
and boots. The bets are made through stakeholders—four or five Indians—who 
constantly ride about on horseback. Whateyer is bet is put with what is bet 
against it. If handkerchiefs, they are knotted together and thrown over the 
stakeholder’s shoulder; if money, the sums are put together in his pocketbook. 
His memory is remarkable, and he never fails to turn over the stakes correctly. 
Mueh skill is shown during the game. In a scrimmage the ball is tossed back- 
ward through the bent legs of the players, and when the player secures it he 
utters a signal cry—hogle 4! This is repeated by those along the line, and 
each grabs the opponent nearest to him and holds him. While they are wrest- 
ling the player with the ball tries to run with it, so that he can throw it and 
make a goal. 
