624 GAMES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS  [eru. ann. 24 
The object was to hit the ball so that it would fall beyond a certain line. 
“T will win this game for you,” said the little bird TsilkAli, for I will hide 
within the ball and fly with it wherever I want to go. Do not hit the ball hard; 
give it only a light tap, and depend on me to earry it.’ . . . On the line 
over which the ball was to be knocked all the people were assembled; on one 
side were those who still remained slaves; on the other side were the freed- 
men and those who had come to wager themselves, hoping to rescue their 
kinsmen. Nohoilpi bet on this game the last of his slaves and his own person. 
The gambler struck his ball a heavy blow, but it did not reach the line; the 
stranger gave his but a light tap, and the bird within it flew with it far beyond 
the line, whereat the released captives jumped over the line and joined their 
people. \ 
Navano. St Michael, Arizona. 
Reverend Father Berard Haile writes as follows in a personal 
letter : 
In shinny, ndashdilka’], the ball bears the same name, jol, as in the tossed 
and batted ball game. The stick is the reversed ball stick; however, the filling 
of the ball is somewhat different, for it is put in a small leather pouch and 
then sewed at the end and not in the center. This seems immaterial. Shinny 
is played according to the rules which regulate the game of tossed and batted 
ball regarding time of year, etc. The Navaho prefer long distances [figure 803] 
between the opposing lines. The object is to bring the shinny ball over the 
opponent's line. Whoever is successful first is the winner. The stick is also 
Players | one or two miles Players 
Fie. 803. Plan of shinny ball field; Navaho Indians, St Michael, Arizona. 
ealled be-aka’‘li, and the origin of the game is the same as that of tossed and 
batted ball. 
Tsetsaut. Portland inlet, British Columbia. 
Dr Franz Boas” mentions these people playing a game with a ball 
of cedar bark. 
CADDOAN STOCK 
Arrkara. Oklahoma. 
Dr George A. Dorsey,° in the origin of the Arikara, describes them 
as coming in their journeying to a great lake where they had their 
village for some time. 
They made games at this place. The first game they played was the shinny 
ball and four sticks. The land was marked out by four sticks, which inclosed 
an oblong extending from east to west. Each side tried to force the ball 
through the other’s goal. When one side was beaten it immediately began to 
kill those of the other side. 
« June 27, 1902. 
’ Fifth Report on the Indians of British Columbia. Report of the Sixty-fifth Meeting of 
the British Association for the Advancement of Science, p. 568, London, 1895. 
¢ Traditions of the Arikara, p. 16, Washington, 1904. 
