Page:Lacrosse- The National Game of Canada (New Edition).djvu/30

 Rh crowd, and dodging was necessary. This seems the more remarkable when we consider the shape of the stick, and the peculiar facilities for dodging, afforded by the concavity of the netting and the smallness of the hoop which retained the ball.

On grand occasions, they ornamented the hoop and handle with small feathers or tufts of hair, and painted or dyed it various colors.

Several tribes still use the original stick. The above illustration is taken from one which Mr. Radiger, an old Montreal Club player, used in several matches with the half-breeds of the Garden River Indian Reserve, Sault River, about 15 miles from the entrance to Lake Superior. It is similar to the Objiway stick described by early travellers.

.—The original ball was about the size of a tennis ball, though differing among the tribes; and was first made of deer-skin or raw-hide, stuffed with hair and sewed with sinews. The Objiways and Poutawatamies at the mouth of the Detroit River used a heavy wooden one, generally a knot; while others improvised balls of the bark of the pine tree.