GAMES DERIVED FROM EUROPEANS 
It is obvious that there has been steady modification of old Indian 
customs under the influence of the whites, and that the Indians have 
absorbed European ideas, many of which have in time become difli- 
cult of recognition as foreign in origin. These facts are true to a 
certain extent of their games. An excellent example of incorporation 
is found in the Navaho game of baseball. In spite of tribal tradi- 
tions, it appears that the Navaho learned the game from the whites 
when they were imprisoned at the Bosque Redondo after 1863. The 
following account of the game was furnished the writer by Rev. 
Berard Haile, of St Michael, Arizona: 
Aqejélyedi, Run around ball—This game is not played at present in its orig- 
inal form, but was quite frequently played fifteen or twenty years ago. The 
ball, jot, was made, before rag time, of the bark of a shrub called azhi’ (bark) 
or awe ts’al, baby’s cradle, which owes its name to the fact that it was used for 
bedding in cradles. This bark was covered with the hide of deer, goat, horse, or 
any animal which can be eaten by the Navaho with impunity. Therefore 
bear, coyote, or dog hides would not be allowed as a covering for the ball. There 
were two halves to the cover, which were sewed together in the center with the 
sinews of deer or buckskin strips. The ball is the sign of the evil-spirit wind, and 
therefore must disappear as soon as vegetation begins and until after the harvest. 
The stick, or bat, bé@-akAli, something to strike with, was an oak stick of this 
shape: J. Oak is hard and has great resisting power, and is used in nearly all the 
Navaho religious ceremonies. Though I have no authority for it, I am inclined 
to believe it is used to signify the power of Godhead. The curvature of one end 
of the bat is made by placing the stick in hot ashes, and then bending in the forks 
of another twig. In shinny the reversed stick f is used. In this game the 
batter takes hold of the curved end and strikes the ball with the thin end, which 
is about of the thickness of the middle finger. In shinny, however, he holds the 
thin end and strikes the ball with the knotty end of the stick. 
The terms of the game and the points to be scored by the winning side having 
been agreed upon, the players line up in about the position of the subjoined 
diagram [figure 1084]. 
I haye given the four bases the names of east, south, ete., although they are 
not thus called by the Navaho. They have a name for east, meaning the first 
place to run to, and for north, na”ilyed, run is finished. 
The pitchers are called atch’i’ndalni’, he throws toward him; for the other 
players there are no names. The pitcher may throw high or low, and the batter 
may strike at the ball from either direction; there may also be two or three 
batters at the bat at one time, and a batter may be allowed to retire after two 
or three strikes and take up the bat at another more opportune time. ‘The 
fourth strike compels the batter to run for first base, as. also when he hits the 
ball, fair or foul, fly or grounder. Once on the base he is safe until he leaves 
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