The Game of Pelota
“We, the pelotarie playing here, can play either on frontones of the Spanish or Basque form; but there is no doubt that the latter is the better game, and we feel we must state that the measures of the court, and the wall, and its top curves are the same in the Paris fronton as at St. Jean-de-Luz, which is considered by all authorities an ideal court. Here we play three against three, and all the ‘aficionados’ who have witnessed a game of Basque pelota are unanimous in saying it is a sport of a high grade, although different from the three-wall game.
“We, the undersigned, are the recognized champions of pelota Basque.
“Eloy, of the Barcelona’s Fronton.
“Melchior, of San Sebastian’s Fronton.
“Velasco, of Biarritz and Bilbao’s Fronton.
“Leon Diharce, of Paris and Buenos Ayres Fronton.”
It is by the word euskualdunac that the Basques are known among themselves. Their speech has an extraordinary sound, the vowels jumping out from between the consonants as a nut shell crushes in a casse-noisette. No tongue of Europe sounds more strange to foreign ears, not even Hungarian. On the other hand a Basque will speak French perfectly, without the slightest accent, when he feels like it, but his Béarnais neighbour makes a horrible mess of it, mixing Parisian French with his chattering patois. What a language and what a people the Basques are, to be sure! Some day some one will study them profoundly and tell us much about them that at present we only suspect. This much we know, they are allied to no other race in Europe.