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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by Dean C. Worcester 



THE BONTOC IGOROT SLAPPING GAME OP THE PHILIPPINES 



There are two contestants in this remarkable pastime. One man sits on a bench with 

 the thigh exposed to his opponent, who administers a blow with the flat of his hand with all 

 the strength he can muster. After the stroke, judges examine the thigh of the man who has 

 been struck. If the blow has been sufficiently hard to cause the blood to show beneath the 

 skin, the striker has won the game, but if not then the opponents change places. The first 

 contestant who causes the blood to show beneath' the other's skin is declared the winner. 

 Note the knots of muscle that spring out on the striker's arm, back, and legs as he strikes. 



game, had most plebeian beginnings. 

 Contrary to a widespread belief, it seems 

 not to have originated in Scotland, but in 

 northern Europe. Apparently it was first 

 played on ice, being one of the winter 

 sports adapted to the physical geography 

 of the Low Countries. Even in the north, 

 though, it evolved to a terra firnia stage, 

 as indicated by a sketch in a book illu- 

 minated at Bruges, which shows three 

 players, each with a ball and one club, 

 playing on turf. 



By the fifteenth century golf had at- 

 tained such vogue in Scotland that it 

 threatened the cherished archery, and it is 

 classed with "fute-ball" and other "un- 

 profitabll sportis" by James IV. That 

 monarch, however, seems to have disre- 

 garded his own edict, as did enough other 

 Scotchmen to keep the game alive. 



Like tennis, golf was played by both 



sexes. Critics of Mary Stuart cited in 

 evidence that her husband's fate weighed 

 so lightly upon her heart that she was 

 seen playing the game in the fields near 

 Setori. 



To the Romans also is ascribed a 

 game that suggests modern golf. It was 

 played with a feather-stuffed ball, and 

 called "paganica," because the common 

 people played it — another evidence of the 

 game's lowly origin. 



THE BOND OP PEAY 



America's love of play is a distinctive 

 part of her Anglo - Saxon heritage. 

 Where two or more English-speaking 

 people get together, be it in Bagdad or 

 Buenos Aires, their common tongue 

 makes the point of contact, but it gener- 

 ally is their love of active play that forms 

 the tie that binds their comradeship. 



