Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-01-01

stick. The ball now used is an ordinary
! leather-covered bali, but in former days il
was made of deer hair and covered with
deer skin In California the ball is Of
wood. The ball sticks vary considerably
among different tribes. AS before stated,
the Cherokee player uses a pair, catching
the ball between them and throwing 1t
from him in the same way. The stick is
something less than three feet in length,
and its general appearance somewhat re-
sembles tennis racket, or long wooden
spoon with loose network Of twisted
squirrel-skin thongs or strings of Indian
hemp where the bowl ought to be. The
| frame is made of a slender hickory stick
bent over upon itself and so trimmed and
fashioned that the handle part seems to be
one solid round piece, when in fact it is
double. The other Southern tribes gener-
ally used sticks Of the same pattern, but
among the Sioux and 0jibwas of the north
the player uses single stick bent around
at the end so as to form hoop, in which
a loose netting is fixed.
On the night preceding the game each
settlement. On the reservation the dance
is always held on Friday night, so that
the game may take place on Saturday
afternoon in order to give the players and
spectators an opportunity to sleep off the
effects on Sunday. 1t may be remarked
here in parenthesis that the Cherokee
word for Sunday signifies "when everybody
does nothing all day long," showing that
they appreciate to its fullest extent its
superior advantages as a day of rest. The
dance must be held close to the river, TO
enable the players to go to water during
the night, but the exact spot selected is
always a matter of uncertainty, except
with chosen few, up to the last moment.
If this were not the case spy from the
other settlement might endeavor to work
the defeat of the party by strewing along
their trail soup made of the hamstrings
of rabbits, which would have the effect of
rendering the players timorous and easily
confused in the game on the morrow.
The dance begins soon after dark on the
night preceding the game and lasts until
daybreak, and from the time they eat sup
per before the dance until after the game
on the following afternoon no food passes
the lips of the players.
On this occasion the young men of yell
low Hill were to contend against those of
Raven Town, about ten miles further up
the river, and as the latter place was a
large settlement, noted for its adherence
to the old traditions, spirited game was
expected. My headquarters were at yell
low Hill, and as the principal shaman OF
lived in the same house with me he kept
me well posted in regard to all the prep
arations.
Each party holds dance in its own set
Element, the game itself takingp place about
midway between. The Yellow Hill men
were to have their dance about halfa mile
up the river from ray house. We started
about o'clock-for there was no need to
hurry-and before long began to meet
groups of dark figures by two and threes
going in the same direction or sitting by
the roadside awaiting some tagging COM
panions 1t was too dark to distinguish
faces, but the familiar voices revealed their
identity, and among them were a number
who had come from distances of six or
eight miles.
As we drew nearer the measured beat of
the Indian drum fell upon the ear, and
SDOH We COulu SGS lllG uSuTSS Vi IHe
dancers outlined against the freight,
while the soft voices of the women as they
sang the chorus of the ball songs mingled
their plaintIve cadences with the shouts OF
the men.
The spot selected for the dance was a
narrow strip of grayelly bottom, where the
mountain came close down to the waters
edge. The tract was only few acres in
extent and was covered with large trees,
their tops bound together by network OF
wild grapevines, which hung down on all
sides in graceful festoons. From the road
the ground sloped abruptly down to this
bottom, while almost overhead was the
mountain, dimly outlined through the
night fog, and close at hand one of the
rapid SO frequent in these mountain
streams disturbed the stiffness of the night
with its never-ceasing roar.
Several fires were burning, and the ftful
blaze falling upon the trees sent out long
shadows to melt in the surrounding dark
ness, while Just within the circle Of light,
leaning against the trees or stretched upon
the ground, were the Indians, the women
with their motionless figures muffled up in
white sheets, seeming like ghosts returned
to earth, and the babies whose mothers
were in the dance laid away under the
bushes to sleep, with only a shawl between
them and the cold ground. Around the
larger fire were the dancers, the men
stripped as for the game, with their ball
sticks in their hands and the freight
playing upon their bodies, while the dark
mountains all around seemed to echo back
the voice of the river as its roar mingled
with the mournfdl refrain of the dancers.
1t was weird, wild picture, not easily to
be forgotten.
The ball play dance is participated in
by both sexes, but differs considerably
| from any other of the dances of the tribe,
being dull affair throughout The
dancers are the players of the morrow,
with seven women representing the seven
clans of the Cherokees. The men dance
in circle around the fire, chanting re-
sponses to the sound of rattle carried by
another performer, who trots around on
the outside of the circle, while the women
stand in line few feet away and dance to
and fro, now advancing few steps toward
the men, then wheeling and dancing away
! from the players, but all the while keeping
! time to the sound of the drum and chant
ing the refrain to the ball song as sung by
the drummer, seated on the ground on the
side furthest from the fire. The rattle is
gourd fitted with handle and filled
with small pebbles, while the drum resem-
bles a small key, with head of ground
hog leather The drum is partly filled
with water, the head also moistened to i'm
prove the tone, and is beaten with single
stick. Men and women dance separately
throughout, the music, the evolutions and
the songs being entirely distinct, but all
combining to produce an harmonious
whole. The women are relieved at inter-
walls by others who take their places, but
the men dance around in the same narrow
circle the whole night long, excepting dur
ing the frequent hats for the purpose Of
going to water.
At one side of the fire are set up two
forked poles supporting a third laid hori-
zontally, upon which the ball sticks are
crossed in pairs until the dance begins.
As already mentioned, small pieces from
the wing of the bat are sometimes tied to
these poles, the better to insure success in
the contest. The players are all stripped
and painted, with feathers in their hair,
just as they appear in the game. When
all is ready an attendant takes down the
ball sticks from the frame, throwing them
over his arm in the same fashion and