The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-03-04
ESkIM0S HAVE
GOOD GAMES
They Play Two Kinds of Football.
and Even in the Middle of the
Arctic Night They Have Fun.
BY H. IRVING KING.

benIlnS Sed ana the Arctic Ocean,
where the nights and days are six
months long and snow and ice abound,
are extremely fond of games.
The little Eskimo boys have toy
and canoes, or kaiaks, as they are call
ed, and the girls play with dolls of
ivory made from the tusks of the wal
rus. They have little toy dishes and
other household utensils made of
baked clay, with which they play at
housekeeping, just the same as civil
lied children do.
There is one game of which the chill
dren are particularly fond, and which
is also enjoyed by their fathers and
mothers
round block of wood about six
inches long is whitfield into the shape
of spool, excepting that one end. in
stead of fiaring out, is sharply pointed
so that it can be stuck In the ground
which forms the floor of the native
hut.
"A hole is drilled through the block
the same as through a spool and the
continuance is stuck in the center OF
the floor, with the flaring end upper
most.
Then the family and their friends.
children and old people together. seat
themselves cross-legged in a circle and
try to throw small darts so that they
shall go into the hole in the center of
the spool-like block
Each player has beside him a little
pile of sticks with which to keep count
and when he succeeds in sending the
Dart into the hole he takes one of
these sticks and lays it to one side.
Each player has the same number
OF these contingencies When
player misses sending the dart into the
mole he passes it to the next player,
and so it goes around the circle until
one player has made as many success
iul throws of the dart as he has count
lng-sticks, when he drops out and the
others continue until all the sticks
nave been used up, the last PLAYER out
losing the game.
They also play "cat's-cradle" with a
cord made of the sinew of some ami
mai, and are so expert that. besides
making the ordinary combinations
such as are made among civilized chill
dren, they will form the outlines of
olrds and various northern animals
with the string.
the back of the right hand a number
CT small wooden sticks, like jack
straws. The player withdraws his
hand swiftly and tries to catch the
falling sticks between his thumb ard
foretinger, still keeping the palm of
the hand downward. If one of the
sticks falls to the ground it is a miss
and the next player tries.
When player succeeds in catching
all the Ctialxe he
number and lays it aside. This is con-
| tinued until all the sticks are used up,
| when the one having the largest num-
Der is declared the winner.
The Eskimo children are great top
| spinners. boy sets his top spinning
on the earth floor of the hut which
serves him for a home, and then
around the building and get back in
| side before the top stops going. If he
does so he scores one. and the boy VINO
| can do this the greatest number of
| times consecutively wins.
! Another game they play is this. A
| stick is driven into the center of the
floor and the players gather around in
a circle about four yards away from it,
| Then one of the players places an ar
| ticle of some kind in the center of the
| circle and the Others take turns in
| trying to throw a ring of twisted grass
! so that it will fall over the stake.
If a player succeeds he takes the
prize as his own and replaces it by
another article of like value but of a
different kind.
As each player puts up something
of which he has a surplus the game
amounts to sort of trading of arti-
| Giles, and, though it is very much like
| playing for keeps" the Eskimos of
the frozen shores see no harm in it.
There are number of games, the
| success in which depends upon skill
in throwing darts and in which the
children become expert.
Football is played among the Eski-
| mos by both men and boys. They play
it in two different ways In one the
ball is thrown into the center of the
field and the two sides make rush for
it and try to drive it to the goal of
the other side. The goals are marks
made in the snow. This game is
much like the football played among
civilized boys only that it has no set
of rules to govern it. Anything, ap-
parently, is fair which will bring sue
cess.
In the other game the players stand
in two long rows close together, the
ball is rolled between the lines and
the players try to kick it through the
line of the opposing team. AS soon
as InlS is accomplished Inere is a rush
to drive it to one or the other of the
goals.
They use a leather ball about six
inches in diameter, stuffed with moss
or deer hair. This game is played on
the hard, frozen snow in the spring
when the long night of the winter is
beginning to give place to the long
day of the summer
In a game of handball which they
play the boys are on one side and the
girls on the other. The ball is a rec
tangular leather bag filled with sand
or earth, and the boys throws it from
one 10 the other, while the girls seek
to catch it and keep it going on their
side.
When one of the boys has not had
the ball in his hands for a long time
his companions call out to him that he
is hungry" and try to throw the ball
to him. The girls try to prevent the
hungry one from getting it,. and IL
they succeed, they chase him and rub
his head with the ball, saying I'VE will
oil your head so that you will not