Page:Lacrosse- The National Game of Canada (New Edition).djvu/46

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THE ORIGINAL GAME.
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into active exercise every muscle of the human frame, and brings into bold relief the supple and athletic forms of the best built people in the world. At one time a figure will rivet your attention, similar to the Apollo Belvidere, and another, you will actually be startled by the surpassing eloquence of a Mercury." The game was played in the United States occasionally some years ago by several of the most numerous tribes, who used the original stick and generally the one pole goal, but a combination of circumstances has almost obliterated it as an Indian recreation in that free Republic where Indians and negroes have not exactly paradisiacal times. Mr. Radiger tells me he has both seen it played and participated in the game with the Objiway half-breeds of the Garden River Indian Reserve, Sault River. They use the original round hoop stick, and use only one. Their goal is a single pole, eight feet high and two inches in diameter, and must be struck to decide the game. They begin the game after the primitive manner, of placing the stick on the ground in front of them, and the ball is thrown up in the air. "They do very little dodging," writes our friend, "except when they get near to