"The national game of the Nahuas was the _tlachtli_, which strongly resembled in many points our game of football, and was quite as lively and full of scuffle. It was common among all the nations whose cult was similar to the Toltec, and was under special divine protection, though what original religious significance it had is not clear. Indeed, for that matter, nearly every game enjoyed divine patronage, and _Ometochtli_, 'two rabbits,' the god of games, according to Duran, was generally invoked by athletes as well as by gamblers, in conjunction with some special god. Instruments of play, and natural objects were also conjured to grant good luck to the applicant. As an instance of the popularity of the game of tlachtli, it may be mentioned that a certain number of towns contributed annually sixteen thousand balls in taxes, that each town of any size had a special playground devoted to the game, and that kings kept professionals to play before them, occasionally challenging each other to a game besides. The ground in which it was played, called the _tlachco_, was an alley, one hundred feet long and half as wide, except at each end where there were rectangular nooks, which doubtless served as resting places for the players. The whole was enclosed by smooth whitewashed walls, from nine to twelve feet high on the sides, and somewhat lower at the ends, with battlements and turrets, and decreasing in thickness toward the top. At midnight, previous to the day fixed for the game, which was always fixed favorably by the augurs, the priests with much ceremony placed two idols--one representing the god of play, the other the god of the tlachtli--upon the side walls, blessed the edifice, and consecrated the game by throwing the ball four times round the ground, muttering the while a formula. The owner of the tlachco, usually the lord of the place, also performed certain ceremonies and presented offerings, before opening the game. The balls, called _ullamaloni_, were of solid India-rubber, three to four inches in diameter. The players were simply attired in the maxtli, or breech-clout, and sometimes wore a skin to protect the parts coming in contact with the ball, and gloves; they played in parties, usually two or three on each side. The rule was to hit the ball only with knee, elbow, shoulder, or buttock, as agreed upon, the latter was however the favorite way, and to touch the wall of the opposite side with the ball, or to send it over, either of which counted a point. He who struck the ball with his hand or foot, or with any part of his body not previously agreed upon, lost a point; to settle such matters without dispute a priest acted as referee. On each side-wall, equidistant from the ends, was a large stone, carved with images of idols, pierced through the center with a hole large enough to just admit the passage of the ball; the player who by chance or skill drove the ball through one of these