Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/279

 236 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., i, 1899

Codrington ' says :

" A game which belongs to Banks' Island and New Hebrides is tika, the Fiji tiqa y played with reeds dashed in such a manner upon the ground that they rise in the air and fly to a considerable distance. In some islands, as Santa Maria, a string is used to give impetus, and in some the reed is thrown also from the foot. The game is played by two parties who count pigs for the furthest casts, the number of pigs counted as gained depending on the number of knots in the winning tika. There is a proper season for the game, that in which the yams are dug, the reeds on which the yam vines had been trained having apparently served originally for the tika. It is remarkable that in Mota a decimal set of numerals is used in this game, distinct from the quinary set used on every other occasion of counting."

75. Pa-hee. — According to Ellis* this is —

" a favorite amusement with farmers, and common people in general. The pa-hee is a blunt kind of dart, varying in length from two to five feet, and thickest about six inches from the point, after which it tape« gradually to the other end. These darts are made with much ingenu- ity, of a heavy wood. They are highly polished, and thrown with greats- force or exactness along the level ground, previously prepared for ther game. Sometimes the excellence of the play consists in the dexterity with which the pa-hee is thrown. On these occasions two darts are laid down at a certain distance, three or four inches apart, and he who, in a given number of times, throws his dart most frequently between these two, without striking either of them, wins the game. At other times it is a mere trial of strength; and those win, who, in a certain number of times, throw their darts farthest. A mark is made in the ground, to designate the spot from which they are to throw it. The players, balancing the pa-hee in their right hand, retreat a few yards from this spot, and then springing forward to the mark, dart it along the ground with great velocity. The darts remain wherever they stop, till all are thrown, when the whole party runs to the other end of the floor, to see whose have been the most successful throws. This latter game is very laborious. ' '

Brigham ' states that the pa-Jue could be and was used as a weapon (see plate XII, a). The material was always kau-i-la or

1 Page 340. * Vol. IV, p. 197.

3 Preliminary Catalogue^ part II, p. 59.

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