cULIN] RACKET: MUSKOGEE 607 
been broken in their ball-plays, but no resentments follow an accident of this 
kind. 
The women and men both attend them in large numbers, as a kind of gala; 
and bets often run as high as a good horse or an equivalent of skins. 
J. M. Stanley,” in his Catalogue of Portraits of North American 
Indians, describes under no. 16, Tah-Coo-Sah Fixico, or Billy Hardjo, 
chief of one of the Creek towns: 
The dress in which he is painted is that of a ball-player as they at first appear 
upon the grounds. During the play they divest themselves of all their orna- 
ments, which are usually displayed on these occasions, for the purpose of betting 
on the results of the play; such is their passion for betting that the opposing 
parties frequently bet from five hundred to a thousand dollars on a single game. 
Col. Marinus Willett ” says: 
This day I crossed the Toloposa and went 5 miles to see a most superb ball 
play. There were about eighty players on a side. The men, women, and chil- 
dren, from the neighboring towns, were assembled upon this occasion. Their 
appearance was splendid; all the paths leading to the place were filled with 
people; some on foot, some on horseback. The play was conducted with as 
much order and decorum as the nature of things would admit of. The play is 
set on foot by one town sending a challenge to another; if the challenge be 
accepted, the time and place are fixed on, and the whole night before the play 
is employed by the parties in dancing, and some other ceremonious preparations. 
On the morning of the play, the players on both sides paint and decorate them- 
selves, in the same manner as when they are going to war. Thus decorated, 
and stripped of all such clothing as would encumber them, they set out for the 
appointed field. The time of their arrival is so contrived, that the parties arrive 
near the field at the same time; and when they get within about half a mile, 
in a direction opposite to each other, you hear the sound of the war song and 
the yell; when, presently, the parties appear in full trot, as if fiercely about to 
encounter in fight. In this manner they meet and soon become intermingled 
together, dancing while the noise continues. Silence then succeeds; each player 
places himself opposite to his antagonist. The rackets which they use are then 
laid against each other, in the center of the ground appointed for the game. 
They then proceed to measure a distance of 300 yards, 150 each way. from the 
center, where they erect two poles, through which the ball must pass, to count 1. 
The play is commenced by the balls being thrown up in the air, from the cen- 
ter; every player then, with his rackets, of which each has two, endeavors to 
eatch the ball, and throw it between the poles; each side laboring to throw it 
between the poles towards their own towns; and every time this can be accom- 
plished, it counts 1. The game is usually from 12 to 20. This was lost by the 
challengers. Large bets are made upon these occasions; and great strength, 
agility, and dexterity are displayed. The whole of the present exhibition was 
grand and well conducted. It sometimes happens that the inhabitants of a 
town game away at these plays all their clothes, ornaments, and _ horses. 
Throughout the whole of the game the women are constantly on the alert. with 
bottles and gourds filled with drink, watching every opportunity to supply the 
players. 
«Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vy. 2, p. 13, 1862. 
*A Narrative of the Military Actions of Colonel Marinus Willett, p. 108, New York, 
1831. 
