Page:Lacrosse- The National Game of Canada (New Edition).djvu/31

 14 .—The earliest goal was any marked rock or tree that happened to be convenient; and it is still customary among the domesticated and wild tribes in America to ignore such a thing as "flag poles."

At grand matches, however, the Indians were more particular, and used for each goal a single pole or stake, eight feet high and two inches in diameter, or the two pole goal as at present. The distance from one goal to the other varied in proportion to the number of players, from five hundred yards to half a mile and more. The Poutawatamies, Sioux, Dacotahs, Cherokees, Sacs, Objiways, Iroquois, Algonquins, and nearly all tribes used the one pole. The four former merely required the ball to be thrown past the line of this stake; the Objiways, Iroquois, Algonquins, &c., required the pole to be struck with the ball. The former still maintain this law. The Algonquins, seen by Charlevoix, used one pole.

The Choctaws, seen by Catlin, used two stakes for each goal, twenty-five feet high, and six feet apart, with a pole or goal-line across the top. The Creeks in Alabama used two stakes, six feet high