Indian Games : an historical researchDavis, Andrew McFarland
History
Indian Games : an historical research
Davis, Andrew McFarland
Dice; Indians of North America -- Games
Reading Perrot's description in connection with that given by de la
Potherie of the game played before Perrot by the Miamis, helps us to
remove the confusion of the account. Abbe Ferlande [Footnote: Cours
d'Histoire du Canada, par J.B. Ferland, Quebec, 1861, Vol. I, p. 134.]
describes the game. He was a diligent student of all sources of
authority upon these subjects and was probably familiar with the modern
game. His account of the Indian game follows that of Perrot so closely
as to show that it was his model. It is, however, clear and distinct in
its details, free from the confusion which attends Perrot's account and
might almost serve for a description of the game as played by the
Indians to-day. Perrot was a frontier-man and failed when he undertook
to describe anything that required careful and exact use of language.
We can only interpret him intelligently by combining his descriptions
with those of other writers and applying our own knowledge of the game
as we see it to-day. He is, however, more intelligible when he gets on
more general ground, and after having disposed of the technicalities of
the game, he proceeds: "Men, women, boys and girls are received on the
sides which they make up, and they wager between themselves more or
less according to their means."
"These games ordinarily begin after the melting of the ice and they
last even to seed time. In the afternoon one sees all the players
bedecked [Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote (1) relocated to chapter
end.] and painted. Each party has its leader who addresses them,
announcing to his players the hour fixed for opening the game. The
players assemble in a crowd in the middle of the field and one of the
leaders of the two sides, having the ball in his hands casts it into
the air. Each one then tries to throw it towards the side where he
ought to send it. If it falls to the earth, the player tries to draw it
to him with his cross. If it is sent outside the crowd, then the most
active players, by closely pursuing it, distinguish themselves. You
hear the noise which they make striking against each other and warding
off blows, in their strife to send the ball in the desired direction.
When one of them holds the ball between his feet, it is for him, in his
unwillingness to let it go, to avoid the blows which his adversaries
incessantly shower down upon his feet. Should he happen to be wounded
at this juncture, he alone is responsible for it. It has happened that
some have had their legs broken, others their arms and some have been
killed. It is not uncommon to see among them those who are crippled for
life and who could only be at such a game by an act of sheer obstinacy.
When accidents of this kind happen, the unfortunate withdraws quietly
from the game if he can do so. If his injury will not permit him, his
relations carry him to the cabin and the game continues until it is
finished as if nothing bad happened."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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