SWANTON] INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 677 



rested again on the heel, the second was on tip-toe, thus from one end of the rank 

 to the other, so that some were always up and some down, alternately and 

 regularly, without the least baulk or confusion ; and they at the same time, and 

 in the same motion, moved on obliquely or sideways, so that the circle performed 

 a double or complex motion in its progression, and at stated times exhibited a 

 grand or universal movement, instantly and unexpectedly to the spectators, by 

 each rank turning to right and left, taking each others places : the movements 

 were managed with inconceivable alertness and address, and accompanied with 

 an instantaneous and universal elevation of the voice, and shrill whoop. (Bar- 

 tram, 1940, pp. 298-299.) 



The great or "regular" Creek game was played between 2 or 

 more towns of opposite town moieties. Practice games within a town 

 were usually between the 2 clan moieties, though the Yuchi are said 

 to have divided up by placing men with children on one side and 

 men without children on the other. As many as 62 are mentioned on a 

 side in the great games. Eight to use men married into the town or 

 sons married out of it was a great subject of discussion and was 

 determined at the preliminary conferences. After these matters had 

 been settled, and when the day for the game approached, the players 

 of each town and their friends started at such a time as to arrive on 

 the ground the night before the game, advancing as if they were going 

 to war. They danced 4 times the night before and took medicine, 

 the women dancing first to be followed by the men brandishing their 

 ball sticks. Each side employed a medicine man who brewed and 

 administered the medicines and scratched all the players, making 4 

 parallel scratches on their calves about deep enough to draw the blood. 

 He also put medicine on their ball sticks. Next day a great quantity 

 of property was wagered. The ball sticks were usually made of 

 hickory tapered and turned in opposite directions, depending on 

 whether the owner were right-handed or left-handed, and the cage 

 was of deer- or raccoon-skin thongs. Each hoop was also bent sidewise 

 a little so that the ball could be held in the cage between them. The ball 

 was of deer hair covered with deerhide, and sewed with deer sinews, 

 and each side had the privilege of making a "medicine ball" which they 

 could use to make their fourth goal. This had some magical object, 

 like a measuring worm, in the center which the doctor sitting behind 

 the goal post of his side was believed able to draw to himself. The 

 players wore only their flaps, but with the tail of a fleet or masterful 

 animal behind. They were usually brilliantly painted, however, with 

 designs of a kind likely to bring good luck, though little is remem- 

 bered regarding this. In games between the clan moieties, crane 

 feathers were worn by the Whites and eagle feathers by the Tcilokis. 

 The goals formerly are said to have been as much as a quarter of a 

 mile apart and consisted of 2 saplings with a space of about 10 feet 

 between them and without a crossbar, but in later years, when there 

 were usually fewer players, they were not more than 150 to 200 yards 



