The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-17
PELOTA IN CUBA.
\ New Court Erected in Havana for
the Spanish National Game.
From the New York Tribune)

(FuOm the New York Tribune)
The news that a "fronton." or court, for
the playing of the national BAH game OF
Spain has been built in Havana at
cost of Sl00, 600 and formally blessed by
the biShop. does not indicate that the
Cubans are in any near danger of losing
their racial identity with the Iberian
peninsula. To most Americans or the
other hand. il viii be something of a sur
prise that such a thing as q Spanish
national bail game exists, and with the
surprise there may be some little disap-
pOintment here and there over the van
ished possibility Of AmcricauiZing Cuba
through the kindly influence of American
baseball.
The game. of '.pelota" is not more purely
Spanish in fact. than baseball is purely
American. As the latter can be traced
to remote English ancestry somewhere
in the thirteenth or fourteenth century,
so is the former evidently only a variant
of that French g ieu de pdume from
which building in Paris. famous Tor 4
game Of tremendous historical iihpoIi-
auce took its name and the Jeu dc
paume again. is related to boIh the
English game Of HVes, the lrlsh hald-
ball. and the casual American boy 5 game
StilI. peIota has its own peculiarities,
and, with these differentiating character
isticS. has existed for many centuries III
Spain. In the Basque Province OF t'ulz-
DuZcoa. Delota has been played, as tradI-
ton has it. since the days of Adam ana
Eve From San Sebastian, in that pro-
vince IL was introduced into MadHd,
where Il has long been popular, ana
where. some years ago at least, large
crowds of Medrileno ''rOOterS used 10
gather to witness the games, to bet ana
TO behave themselves with the abandoned
Observation-Disclosures of their kind. II is
noticeable. as showing the persistence
of the old tradition, that the exhibition
game last Sunday in the new fronton or
Havana is said 10 have been played by
Basque professionals pelotaris, 10 give
them their right name.
The dimensions of the Havana court.
as given in dispatches, appear 10 be con
siderablv greater than those usual in
Spain. the latter being only about 30
by POO feet but this may be an effect If
the policy of expansion which has had 50
much influence upon the recent history
Of Cuba. The walls against when the
ball is played are those which form the
two lesser sides of a rectangle. A lon
ger wall closes the third side. and the
fourth Is left open for spectators. in and
out of the grand stand.
Upon the shorter walls two horizontal
iron strips. respectively four and thirty
four feet from the ground. mark the linn
its Of play. The balls used are small
elastic and exceedingly hard But what
gives the Basque game its peculiar char
acter is the racquet or substitute for
that implement. which ii employs. This
consists of a curious SpOOnllke affair OF
wickerwork. curved at one end like
birds beak. and tightly fastened to the
hand by means of glove. Another pc
culiarity is that the game Is opened Dy
a pelotari propelling the ball with back
ward swing from the hollow of his wicker
spoon. turning his back to the wall at
which he aims. The rest of the
game is much like fives, or tennis, every
failure Of one side or the other to catch
the bali on the rebound and return II TO
the wall. making it strike between the
upper and lower lines, counts as one
point to the opposing side, and fifty
points make a game
Peiota is regularly played with two on
a side The fashionable pelOta costume
in Madrid used to be loose white trousers
and a loose shirt of some bright color.
players on the same side wearing the
same colors In appropriate recognition
Of the games origin. the usual head Gov
ering OF players is the Basque "boyna. a
white or colored cap shaped like a Tam
o Shanter but without the ribbon tails.