CULIN] SHINNY: DAKOTA 6387 
equivalent on the part of one on the opposite side, and every bet, which consists 
of shirts, arrows, shells, feathers, blankets and almost every article of trade or 
their own manufacture, is tied together separately, and as fast as the bets are 
taken and tied together they are laid on a pile about the center of the play- 
ground, being given in charge of three or four elderly men, who are chosen as 
judges of the sport. After this has been concluded two posts are set up about 
three-quarters of a mile apart and the game consists in knocking the ball with 
sticks toward these posts, they being the outcome or limit for either party in 
different directions. They strip naked, except the breechcloth and moccasins, 
and paint their bodies in every possible variety of manner. Fach is furnished 
with a stick about 33 feet long, turned up at the lower end, and they range them- 
selves in two lines, commencing at the middle of the ground and extending on 
either side some distance. The ball is cast into the air in the center of the 
course, struck as soon as it falls by some one, and the game begins, each party 
endeavoring to knock the ball to the post designated as their limit. The game is 
played three times, and whichever party succeeds in winning two courses out of 
the three is judged conqueror. When the players are well chosen it is often an 
interesting game, and some splendid specimens of foot racing can be seen; but 
when one of them, either intentionally or by accident, hurts another by a stroke 
with the play stick, a general shindy takes place, and the sticks are employed 
over each others’ heads, which is followed by a rush for the stakes and a 
scramble. We have seen them, when this was the case, arm themselves and 
exchange some shots, when, a few being wounded, the camps would separate 
and move away in different directions. Supposing, however, the game proceeds 
in its proper spirit and humor, each bet being tied separately, the parcels are 
handed out to the successful party by the judges. This game is not often done 
by large parties of men, or, if so, it is very warmly contested and very apt to 
break up in a disturbance. We have seen it also played by both men and 
women joined, a few men aiding two parties of women; this was amongst the 
Sioux, but with the other tribes it is generally played by men only. 
Crows. Crow reservation, Montana. (Cat. no. 69648, Field Colum- 
bian Museum.) 
Shinny stick and ball; the ball a flattened spheroid, with median 
seam, 4 inches in diameter; the stick an unpainted sapling, 
curved at the end; length, 38 inches. 
Collected by Mr S. C. Simms in 1901, who says: 
The game is played only in the spring, when the grass is green, the men on 
one side and the women on the other. The goals each consist of two blankets, 
spread side by side on the ground. A man or a woman selects one of the goals. 
The ball is tossed in the air among the crowd of players, and the object is to 
drive it to the goal selected. 
Daxora (Ociata). Pine Ridge reservation, South Dakota. (Cat. 
no. 22117, 22118, Free Museum of Science and Art, Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania.) 
Stick (figure 828), made of a sapling, 39 inches in length, bent at 
one end by fire, and a buckskin-covered ball (figure S28), 24 
inches in diameter, the cover made of a single piece and stitched 
with sinew. 
