Catlin tells us that in their games there would sometimes be six to eight hundred or a thousand young men engaged. He says: “I have made it an uniform rule, whilst in the Indian country, to attend every ball-play I could hear of, if I could do it by riding a distance of twenty or thirty miles; and my usual custom has been on such occasions to straddle the back of my horse and look on to the best advantage. In this way I have sat, and oftentimes reclined and almost dropped from my horse’s back, with irresistible laughter at the succession of droll tricks and kicks and scuffles which ensue, in the almost superhuman struggles for the ball. Their plays generally commence at about nine o’clock, or near it, in the morning; and I have more than once balanced myself on my pony from that time till nearly sundown, without more than one minute of intermission at a time, before the game has been decided.” But these great games of ball with hundreds of players are quite past, and the sport, where still kept up, grows less and less each year. OTIS T. MASON.—Ethnologist. In charge of the department of Ethnology in the U. S. National Museum, Washington. Has written some books and many articles. Among the last is _Cradles of the American Aborigines_. GEORGE CATLIN.—Artist and traveler. See XXII. V. STORIES OF INDIANS. The Indians everywhere are fond of stories. Some of their stories are about themselves and their own deeds; others recount the past deeds of the tribe; many are about some wise and good man, who lived long ago, and who taught them how they should live and what dances and ceremonies they should perform; some are attempts to explain why things are as they are; others tell of the creation of the world. Of these many stories some may be told at any time and anywhere, while others are sacred and must only be told to certain persons on particular occasions. Among some tribes the “old stories” must not be told in the summer when the trees are full of green leaves, for the spirits of the leaves can listen; but when winter comes, and snow lies on the ground, and the leaves have fallen, and the trees appear to be dead, then they may tell their stories about the camp-fire in safety. We can give only a few of these stories from three different tribes. An Iroquois Story Of The Pleiades. You all know the stars that are called the Pleiades. Sometimes, but wrongly, they are called the Little Dipper. They are a group of seven little stars that look as if they were quite close together.