682 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 187 



Sometimes, it is true, the games were not actually played in this 

 ground but about a second pole outside. Curiously enough, this par- 

 ticular game is almost the only one among the Timucua of which we 

 have any account. We are told that they set up a tree 8 or 9 fathoms 

 high in the midst of an open space, at the top of which was a mat of 

 reeds, or bull rushes, or a frame of twigs, and that the object of the 

 game was to hit this last with a ball (pi. 81). Apparently, as in the 

 case of the Natchez ball game, one tally settled the contest. (Laudon- 

 niere, 1586, p. 7; Le Moyne, 1875, p. 13; Swanton, 1922, p. 381.) In 

 1560 the De Luna colonists mention ball-posts in the squares of the 

 towns they visited, from which it would seem that the game was 

 already in existence among the Upper Creeks and the Mobile Indians 

 (Priestly, 1928, vol. 1, pp. 238-241). The single-post ball game 

 among the Creeks was always between the men and women though 

 sometimes the women's side was reenforced by two good male players. 

 The men used their regular ballsticks, the women their hands. Part 

 way up the pole was a mark and whichever side made a hit upon 

 the pole above this mark scored one point. On top there was a 

 wooden image, or in modern times a cow skull or a horse skull, and 

 if a player hit this his or her side scored an extra number of points, 

 usually five (Swanton, 1928, pp. 467-468). Adair makes mention 

 of this game as known to the old people of the Chickasaw "time out 

 of mind." They used a pole with a bush tied at the top (Adair, 1775, 

 pp. 113-114). I find no specific reference to this game among the 

 Choctaw, but they certainly knew it. 



Probably the most frequently mentioned Southeastern game is the 

 one called chunkey. There were evidently several different varieties, 

 but all made use of a smooth stone roller and two long slender poles, 

 often supplied with short crosspieces midway of their length. Wliile 

 there were usually only two active participants, numbers of onlookers 

 wagered quantities of property on the outcome. The essence of the 

 game was to start the roller along a smooth piece of ground with 

 which every town was supplied, after which the two players threw 

 their poles after it with the idea of hitting the stone, coming as near 

 it as possible when the stone came to rest, or preventing the opponent's 

 stick from accomplishing either of these results. Lederer and Lawson 

 both observed the Eno Siouans playing chunkey in their town. It is 

 not surprising to find the Cusabo towns provided with chunk yards 

 since they belonged to the Muskhogean stock (Alvord, 1912, p. 157; 

 Lawson, 1860, p. 98). 



There is no mention of the game in Florida but in this case, on 

 account of the paucity of our material, silence signifies little, and a 

 form of the game is described in 1595 as observed by Brother San 

 Miguel among the Guale Indians. Immediately after the priest and his 



