it, one on each side; when it was about to fall, each gently threw one
arrow in such a manner that the hoop might fall upon it, and according
to that mark on the hoop which rested on the arrows they reckoned the
game. They also played another game by holding some article in one
hand, or putting it into one of two shoes, the other hand or shoe
being empty. They had another game which required forty to fifty small
sticks, as thick as a goose quill and about a foot long; these were
all shuffled together and then divided into two bunches, and according
to the even or odd numbers of sticks in the bunch chosen, the players
lost or won.

A favourite game amongst the Ojibwe is described as "the hurdle",
which is another name for the Canadian national game of La Crosse.
When about to play, the men, of all ages, would strip themselves
almost naked, but dress their hair in great style, put ornaments on
their arms, and belts round their waists, and paint their faces and
bodies in the most elaborate style. Each man was provided with "a
hurdle", an instrument made of a small stick of wood about three feet
long, bent at the end to a small circle, in which a loose piece of
network is fixed, forming a cavity big enough to receive a leather
ball about the size of a man's fist. Everything being prepared, a
level plain about half a mile long was chosen, with proper barriers or
goals at each end. Having previously formed into two equal parts, they
assembled in the very middle of the field, and the game began by
throwing up the ball perpendicularly in the air, when instantly both
parties (writes an eyewitness) "formed a singular group of naked men,
painted in different colours and in the most comical attitudes
imaginable, holding their rackets elevated in the air to catch the
ball". Whoever was so fortunate as to catch it in his net ran with it
to the barrier with all his might, supported by his party; whilst the
opponents were pursuing and endeavouring to knock the ball out of the
net. He who succeeded in doing so ran in the same manner towards the
opposite barrier, and was, of course, pursued in his turn. If in
danger of being overtaken, he might throw it with his hurdle towards
any of his associates who happened to be nearer the barrier than
himself. They had a particular knack of throwing it a great distance
in this manner, so that the best runners had not always the advantage;
and, by a peculiar way of working their hands and arms whil