Page:Lacrosse- The National Game of Canada (New Edition).djvu/32

 Rh and six feet apart. Basil Hall (1828) says they were simply boughs.

Was the captain or presiding chief, under whose direction the goals were posted; and who, among several tribes, made a preliminary speech to the players before starting the game. Sometimes he was the best player and fleetest runner, and joined in the game, and like the chiefs in Homer, tried to signalize himself by personal acts of courage, forgeting altogether the management of his men.

Were generally the old medicine men of the tribe, whose decision was in all cases final.

The primitive Indian players usually appeared almost as naked as the Grecian athletæ, wearing only a tight breech cloth; and on grand occasions painted their faces and bodies, and decorated themselves with fantastic ornamental bead work, feathers &c., of various colors. They wore a curious kind of