THE OPENING CEREMONY
The Umpire places the ball in the exact center of the circle, then he gently urges it with his stick in a line toward the North until it reaches the edge of the circle. There he picks it up and puts it back in the center of the circle. Again he gently pushes it with his stick along a line toward the South until the edge of the circle is reached, when he returns the ball to the center of the circle with his hand. In the same manner as before he sends the ball slowly along a line to the West. When the edge of the circle is reached he picks up the ball and returns it to the center. Once more the ball is moved in a line, this time to the East; when it touches the line of the circle it is picked up as before and placed in the center of the circle. The symbolic figure that has thus been made is that of a circle within which two straight lines cross each other at right angles; the circle is divided into four quarters, one for each of the Four Winds.
THE GAME
Every player now stands at attention, with his stick ready for action. The Umpire pauses a moment at the center of the circle, then he picks up the ball lying there and throws it into the air as high as he can. All the players, who have watched the throw, run in the direction where the ball seems likely to descend, in order to have a chance to strike it toward one of the goals.
To win the game the ball must be sent through a goal; to strike it so that it goes over or around the goal does not count. The ball must be made to take a straight line, to "make a straight path" through a goal, then the game is won. When a good shot is made, all on the side of the one who made the stroke should send up a shout. When the goal is won the winning side should give the victory cry of the game, "Ta-bé!"
III
DOUBLE-BALL GAME
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.—Some stories credit the Moon as the giver of this game to the women, by whom it is exclusively played throughout the United States except among the tribes in Northern California, where the men use the game. There are indications that the Double-ball Game was known upon this continent in the remote past.
The peculiar ball employed for this game is composed of two small stuffed pouches connected by a band, or two billets of wood about five inches long, made like thick pegs with heads and ornamented on all sides with carvings; a leather thong five to eight inches long is attached at each end to the neck of each of the two billets. Dr. Culin reports an ingenious specimen made by the Maricopa Indians of Arizona; that double-ball is made from narrow strips of leather braided to form a band, each end of which is enlarged by braiding so as to make a ball, the finished article being about eight inches in length. (Ibid., p.665, Fig. 882.)