THE GEOGRAPHY OF GAMES 



Photograph by Kenneth Kerr 



AN ESKIMO IDEA OE A GOOD TIME 



No, the lady is not being punished for witchcraft; she merely is being crowned Queen 

 of Love and Beauty by an Alaskan swain. The photograph was taken by a missionary at 

 Point Barrow. There it is the custom for the Eskimo whaler making the biggest catch to 

 be honored by the tossing of a woman in a blanket. Formerly this ceremony was observed 

 after a victory in battle. The blanket is held taut by Eskimo boys and men. The more blase 

 belles always land on their feet ; but a subdebutante is likely to have her head turned or her 

 neck broken if this honor is too suddenly thrust upon her. 



paddlers or divers for sport's sake. The 

 Samoans who fashioned pearl shells to 

 resemble small fish and attached tiny 

 feathers for the fins may have been the 

 precursors of fly fishers but their liveli- 

 hood depended upon the catch. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OE GAME-HUNTING 



Game-hunting marked an important 

 development in the life of primitive 

 races. The Indian who stalked deer, the 

 Semang black man who tracked snakes, 

 the naked savage who hunted the rhi- 

 noceros, snared wild birds at their drink- 

 ing places, and trapped the tiger were 

 not out for a summer's sport. 



Methods of hunting were exceedingly 

 primitive at first, but some tribes early 

 developed an amazing technique. The 

 Eskimo would wrap himself in skins and 



lie by the hour alongside an ice-hole to 

 harpoon a seal. The Tarahmares of 

 Mexico felled trees by the score to get 

 squirrels occasionally caught as the trees 

 fell. 



Afore ingenious were the Tasmanians, 

 who would clear a forest oasis by burn- 

 ing, wait for the grasses to grow and 

 attract animals, and then would set fire 

 to a barricade of brush they arranged in 

 the meantime, with exits near which 

 they would take their stand and spear 

 the frightened animals as they sought to 

 escape. 



Malay wild men killed elephants In- 

 lying in wait until an animal descended 

 a hill, and then they would drive a poi- 

 soned bamboo splinter into its heel. 



Some African tribesmen camouflaged 

 their spear-heads with bird feathers. 



