Indian Games : an historical research — John Shaqi
Indian Games : an historical researchDavis, Andrew McFarland
History
Indian Games : an historical research
Davis, Andrew McFarland
Dice; Indians of North America -- Games
Among the Indians at the south, observers noted and described a game of
great antiquity, of which we have no record during historical times
among those of the north, unless we should classify the game of javelin
described by Morgan [Footnote: League of the Iroquois, p. 300.] as a
modified form of the same game. The general name by which this game was
known was chunkee. When Iberville arrived at the mouth of the
Mississippi he despatched a party to explore the river. The officer who
kept the "Journal de la fregate, le Marin" was one of that party and he
recorded the fact that the Bayagoulas and Mougoulachas passed the
greater part of their time in playing in this place with great sticks
which they throw after a little stone, which is nearly round and like a
bullet. [Footnote: Maigry, Deconvertes, etc., Vol. 4, p. 261.] Father
Gravier descended the river in 1700 and at the village of Houmas he saw
a "fine level square where from morning to night there are young men who
exercise themselves in running after a flat stone which they throw in
the air from one end of the square to the other, and which they try to
have fall on two cylinders that they roll where they think the stone
will fall." [Footnote: Shea's Early Voyages. Albany, 1861, p. 143.]
Adair gives the following description of the same game: "The warriors
have another favorite game, called _'chungke'_, which, with propriety of
language may be called 'Running hard labour.' They have near their state
house [Footnote: Consult E G Squire--Aboriginal Monuments of N.Y.
Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. II, pp. 1356 and note p.
136.] a square piece of ground well cleaned, and fine sand is carefully
strewed over it, when requisite, to promote a swifter motion to what
they throw along the surface. Only one or two on a side play at this
ancient game. They have a stone about two fingers broad at the edge and
two spans round; each party has a pole of about eight feet long, smooth,
and tapering at each end, the points flat. They set off abreast of each
other at six yards from the end of the playground; then one of them
hurls the stone on its edge, in as direct a line as he can, a
considerable distance toward the middle of the other end of the square.
When they have run a few yards, each darts his pole anointed with bears'
oil, with a proper force, as near as he can guess in proportion to the
motion of the stone, that the end may lie close to the stone. When this
is the case, the person counts two of the game, and, in proportion to
the nearness of the poles to the mark, one is counted, unless by
measuring, both are found to be at an equal distance from the stone. In
this manner, the players will keep running most part of the day, at half
speed, under the violent heat of the sun, staking their silver
ornaments, their nose-, finger-and ear-rings; their breast-, arm-and
wrist-plates, and even all their wearing apparel, except that which
barely covers their middle.
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