Indians, but the two races play it with a difference. Lummis,[250] who makes a picturesque story of it as seen at Ácoma, says that he has never known a Pueblo Indian to lose his temper in that wild fight. He gives and takes like a man, strains every fibre of his being to win but never thinks of harboring a vindictive thought. In temper as in endurance and skill he is the model player. The Mexicans rarely finish without bad blood or even bloodshed. At Ácoma, the starting-point is at the foot of the great mesa. Two old men go out to a level spot at the foot of one of the buttes and plant a cock in the sand so that only his head and perhaps two inches of neck can be seen. In 1922, I was told that an unusual number of entries were made, and that men started on the top of the Rock in a foot-race and mounted the horses at the bottom, while running full speed, to catch the fowl and carry it off—“a great race,” said my Indian informant, laughing immoderately at the recollection. The victor is pursued by all the others, who tear off bits of feathers and claws or whatever they can secure. The struggle often lasts as much as four hours, the tireless horses and riders, of surpassing agility and endurance, tearing over “the broad plain, hither and yon through rock-walled passes, up and over steep ridges of knee-deep sand, rider and horse alike unrecognizable for foam and dust in their wild career.” Among the games of dexterity played at Ácoma, Culin mentions the shooting of arrows at bundles of tied-up grass as the only variety of archery pursued. A specialty of the Ácomas which they regard as their original possession, though it is also played at Zuñi, is a game called _bish-i_. The tradition is that the greatest of all legendary gamblers, Gau-pot, played this game against the sun, was defeated, and became blind. The implements are four pieces of hollow cane split longitudinally, each five or six inches long. Before the canes are thrown, the players breathe upon them, and so great is the sacredness of the game that no women may ever touch the canes. The playing of this game is confined to the winter season in the _kivas_, where a society called _Bish-i_ is devoted to its cult.