CHEROKEE B

s the youngmen endure the ordeal willingly and almost cheerfully, regarding itas a necessary part of the ritual to secure success in the g

e the women have taken position in a line a fewfeet away, with their backs turned to the m

ticks. The playersare all stripped and painted, with feathers in their hair, just as theyappear in the g

, but in formerdays the punishment for an infraction of this regulation was severe,and in some tribes the penalty was death. Should a player's wifebe with child, he is not allowed to take part in the game under anycircumstances, as he is then believed to be heavy and sluggish inhis movements, having lost just so much of his strength as has goneto the chil

. Above all, he must not touch a woman,and the player iho should violate this regulation would expose him-self to the summary vengeance of his fello

e, each player is put under a strictgaktnta, or tabu, during the same period. He must not eat theflesh of a rabbit (of which the Indians generally are very fond) be-cause the rabbit is a timid animal, easily alarmed and liable to loseits wits when pursued by the hunt

or the playersare always stripped for the g

s speed and suppleness of limb and a considerable degree ofmuscular strength are prime requisites in the game, the players arealways selected from among the most athletic young men, and to beknown as an expert player was a distinction hardly less covetedthan fame as a warrior. To bring the game to its highest perfec-tion, the best players voluntarily subjected themselves to a regularcourse of training and conjuring; so that in time they came to beregarded as professionals who might be counted on to take part inevery contest, exactly like the professional ball player among thewhites. To farther incite them to strain every nerve for victory,two settlements, or sometimes two rival tribes, were always pittedagainst each other, and guns, blankets, horses--everything theIndian had or valued-were staked upon the

ier. The English, taken completelyby surprise, are cut down without res

In California men and women played together, while amongmost of the more warlike tribes to the eastward it was pre-eminentlya manly game, and it was.believed to insure defeat to a party if awoman even so much as touched a ball stick.

tion, that among the northernand western tribes the player used but one ball stick, while in theGulf States each contestant carried two and caught the ball betweenthe

pliant hickory staff with his knife and flint and twisted the net ofbear sin