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106 INDIAN GAMES AND DANCES |
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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.)
Properties. — One double-ball; as many sticks as players; red and yellow head-bands, equal in number, for the two sides of players.
Directions. — The double-ball should be made in camp in the following manner: A strip of leather or of strong, closely woven brown cloth from fifteen to twenty inches long. For six inches from both ends the strip should be about seven inches wide; the portion of the strip between these wide ends should be about three inches wide. The wide ends are to form the pouches, and the narrower middle section the band to connect the two pouches. The two edges of the strip should be lapped and strongly sewed the entire length of the strip, except a small opening about an inch long left on the |
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