170 INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST. 
GAMES. 
The Apache and Navajo have several games which 
are played partly for amusement but largely in the 
hope of gain. As elsewhere in North America, these 
games have a semi-religious character. There is a 
myth which explains their origin, and songs and prayers 
to bring about success in playing. The game to which 
most dignity is attached is the hoop and pole game. 
The implements employed are a hoop with incised 
bands and a string stretched along the diameter in 
Hoop and Pole Game. Apache. 
which many knots are tied, and two long poles, the 
larger ends of which have a number of incised rings. 
To play it two men stand side by side at one end of a 
level stretch of ground. One rolls the hoop down this 
stretch and both throw the poles after it. If the hoop 
falls on the butt of one of the poles a count is made 
according to the knots of the string or the incised rings 
which happen to be in contact with the rings cut into 
the pole. The incised rings are named for the lightning 
and the hoop represents a snake. Women are never 
allowed to witness the playing of this game. 
A guessing game is played by a number of players 
divided into two parties. A man representing one of 
these parties hides a ball in one of several piles of sand 
