Games with arrows are the most popular Indian sports. If you are camping
in the woods, you may like to play the "Tree Game."
About a dozen blunt or knob-headed arrows are shot up into the branches
of a large, wide-spreading tree, in such a manner that they are all
caught and hang there in many different positions. Then, at a given
signal, the boys begin to shoot them down. Every arrow that a boy brings
down is his; each one of his own that gets lodged becomes a "prize
arrow" for the others to shoot at. Now and then an arrow hugs the limb
so closely that it can hardly be seen; eventually all the boys aim at
this one, and if they are so unlucky as to lose their own arrows without
bringing it down, the "tree wins."
Wand games are very simple and are played by the younger boys. The wands
are from four to six feet long and as big round as a man's little
finger. They are merely peeled switches of any kind of shrub, usually
the common red willow. To decorate in Indian fashion, you must take off
with a sharp knife a long strip of bark; then, having scraped off all
the rest, wind your ribbon of bark spirally round the peeled wand. After
fastening each end securely, hold it over a smudge fire until it is well
smoked. Then remove the strip and you will find a spiral of white
against the deep yellow of the uncovered wood. Sometimes two strips are
wound in opposite directions, leaving yellow diamonds bordered with
white.
The wand is pitched and made to strike at the start upon an inclined
mound or a low horizontal bar, from which it should bound with much
force and sail through the air like an arrow, sometimes as far as fifty
yards. A simple way to give it momentum is to raise the left foot as
high as the right knee, rest the side of the wand against the left
instep and propel it vigorously.
From two to a dozen boys choose sides. The side winning the toss sends
the first wand, and the other side follows, each boy playing in turn for
as long as they fail to pass the first. When they succeed in passing it,
the first party tries again, and the game continues until one side has
spent all its wands, which are gathered up by the winners. Enthusiastic
partisans indulge in cheering, dancing and singing to encourage their
friends and confuse and dishearten the opposite party, but are not
allowed to interfere in any way with the players.
Wand games are played properly in the summer-time; their winter
substitutes are the "snow-snake" and "ground arrow." The former is used
only on fresh snow. It is a flat stick five feet long and about an inch
and a half wide at the widest point, gradually tapering to half that
width at the "tail" end. The head and neck curve slightly upward and are
painted to look as much like those of a snake as possible; the body of
the wand is polished and hardened by fire. The Indian boy hurls this
mimic serpent into the loose, light snow, where it disappears, to appear
again some distance off; again it dives beneath the surface only to come
up again, somewhat like skipping a stone on water. The winner is he who
can make it travel farthest.
[Illustration: Fig. 8.]
[Illustration: Fig. 9.]
[Illustration: Fig. 10.]
Ground arrows are of two kinds. One kind, called "mecha," is made of the
short ribs of buffalo or beef cattle. The rib is cut off four inches
from the free end, and two small holes bored, into which sticks, the
size of a lead-pencil and about a foot in length, are tightly inserted.
The end of each is feathered like an arrow, and they spread out so that
the feathered shafts are perhaps nine inches apart. The whole looks much
like the white boy's shuttlecock.
This "mecha" is grasped firmly between the projecting shafts, and thrown
against a little mound the size of a pillow, made of snow dampened and
packed solidly. From this it rebounds, sails off like a bird, strikes
the hard crust to bound up again and again, and finally crawls along
like a wounded animal. The goal, which is called the "blanket goal," is
an oblong about six by ten paces in size, drawn on the snow at some
fifty yards' distance. Lengthwise of this oblong are drawn six lines,
with seven spaces between. The outer spaces count two, the next four,
the next eight, and the center space counts sixteen, if your "mecha"
hits it in one throw. Any number may play the game.
The other kind of ground arrow, called "matka," is shaped like an arrow.
It is made of hard wood in one piece, and is about two feet long with a
cone-shaped head, burnt and polished to look like horn. The shaft must
be limber, and carries a small tuft of feathers to guide it in its
flight. Another arrow shows an attached head of elk or buffalo horn,
which is better than wood.
The boys throw this in the same manner as the "mecha," but the course is
laid out more elaborately, with obstacles, such as ravines and small
hillocks, and a series of five rings each ten feet in diameter, composed
of five concentric circles with a "bull's-eye" in the center. Beside
each ring there is a snow mound from which to propel the arrow.
The game is in some ways like golf, and may be played individually or by
sides, each player having two strokes in which to reach the next ring,
the first a distance throw and the second a push or shove in the
direction of the ring. The outer circle counts one, and each inner
circle doubles the count, the bull's-eye counting thirty-two. All the
players play in turn, starting from the snow mound nearest the ring
where their arrows lie at the beginning of each round. The score is
added at the close of the game, the boy or team with the highest number
of points being the winner.
This is perhaps the most popular and exciting winter sport for Indian
boys ten years of age and upward. Sometimes they send the arrow flying a
hundred yards before touching the ground, and half as far again at the
first rebound, after which it continues for several shorter flights. The
rings are two hundred to three hundred yards apart for young men, or
half that distance for small boys; the game may be played on
snow-covered lakes or rivers as well as in the open country.