604 GAMES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS  [eru. any. 24 
The ball, it should be observed, is about the size of a golf ball, made of rags 
and covered with white buckskin. Several are provided, as they are fre- 
quently lost in the tall grass. The players on the side with the wind some- 
times substitute a ball with a long tail and a loose cover that comes off during 
the play. The tail then impedes their opponents in throwing it against the 
wind. The women are extremely active in aiding their side. They are not 
permitted to touch the ball sticks, but they are constantly running about and 
giving hot coffee to the men. In one hand they carry a cup of coffee and in the 
other a quirt with which they whip the players when they think they are not 
playing hard enough. At times a player will get a woman to give him a pin, 
with which he will scarify his leg, making from three to five scratches from 
near the ankle to the middle of the calf. until the blood comes. This, they say, 
prevents cramps. 
When the players return to the game after lunch hour they place their ball 
sticks in rows opposite each other in the middle of the field, where they are 
counted by the umpire or the leaders on each side. This is done to see that 
no more are playing than started in the game. The spectators ery out and 
encourage the sides. When a goal is made there is a shout. The most exciting 
point in a close game is when the last goal is neared. Then the play becomes 
very fast and the rules are not strictly observed. A goal may be made in a 
few moments or the contest may last for an hour. In wrestling, the players 
seize each other by the belts, dropping the ball sticks. With the exception of 
the prohibited butting almost everything is permitted. At the present game 
five men were crippled, of whom two died. The injuries inflicted upon a man 
during a game are frequently avenged by his relatives. The result of the 
game described was a victory for Tobucksey county. The conjurer on the 
Sugarloaf side was said to have sent his men to the creek to bathe in the morn- 
ing, which weakened them. They were penalized five goals for butting at the 
end, and so lost the game. There was no celebration afterwards. All were 
tired out and went home quietly to their mud-chinked log cabius at the close 
of the day. 
Crocraw. Mandeville, Louisiana. (Cat. no. 38476, Free Museum of 
Science and Art, University of Pennsylvania.) 
Racket (figure 773), one of pair, consisting of a sapling, the end cut 
thin and turned over to form a kind of spoon, which is crossed 
and tied to the handle with cotton cord; length, 364 inches. 
Fig. 773. Racket; length, 36} inches; Choctaw Indians, Louisiana; cat. no. 38476, Free Museum 
of Science and Art, University of Pennsylvania. 
Collected by the writer in 1901. The rackets are called kabucha. 
The ball game is now seldom or never played by these Indians. 
The game was borrowed from the Indians by the whites in Louisiana, 
and is still played under the name of raquette. 
While in New Orleans in the summer of 1901 I was told that the 
old game of raquette was still played on Sunday afternoons on a 
vacant lot east of the town. The players, some hundreds of French- 
speaking negroes, had assembled in a level, uninclosed field. The 
