siOBX; - Smithsonian Institution

SWANTON] CHOCTAW SOCIAL, AND CEREMONIAL LIFE 145
the hips, were heard in the distance advancing toward the plain from opposite
sides, making the heretofore silent forests ring with their exulting songs and
defiant hump-he! [or humpah] (banter) as intimations of the great feats of
strength and endurance, fleetness and activity they would display before the
eyes of their admiring friends. The curiosity, anxiety and excitement now
manifested by the vast throng of assembled spectators were manifested on
every countenance. Soon the players were dimly seen in the distance through
their majestic forests, flitting here and there as specters among the trees.
Anon they are all in full view advancing from opposite sides in a steady,
uniform trot, and in perfect order, as if to engage in deadly hand to hand
conflict ; now they meet and intermingle in one confused and disorderly mass
interchanging friendly salutations, dancing and jumping in the wildest manner,
while intermingling with all [was an] artillery of wild Shakuplichihi
[shakablichi, "to cause a noise"] that echoed far back from the solitudes of
the surrounding woods.
Then came a sudden hush—a silence deep, as if all Nature had made a
pause—the prophetic calm before the bursting storm. During this brief interval,
the betting was going on and the stakes being put up; the articles bet were
all placed promiscuously in one place, often forming a vast conglomeration
of things too numerous to mention, and the winning side took the pile. This
being completed, the players took their places, each furnished with two kapucha
(ball-sticks), three feet long, and made of tough hickory wood thoroughly
seasoned. At one end of each ka-puch-a, a very ingenious device, in shape and
size, very similar to that of the hand half closed, was constructed of sinews
of wild animals, in which they caught and threw the ball. It was truly
astonishing with what ease and certainty they would catch the flying ball in
the cups of the sticks and the amazing distance and accuracy they would
hurl it through the air. In taking their places at the opening of the play,
ten or twenty, according to the number of players engaged, of each side were
stationed at each pole. To illustrate, I will say, ten of the A. party and ten
of the B. party were placed at pole C. ; and ten of the B. party and ten of
the A. party at pole D. The ten of the B. party who were stationed at the
pole C. were called Fa-la-mo-li-chi (Throw-backs) ; and the ten of the A.
party also stationed at pole C. were called Hat-tak fa-bus-sa (Pole men), and
Ihe ten of the A. party stationed at the pole D. were called Falamolichi,
and the ten of the B. party stationed at the pole D., Hattak fabussa. The
business of the Falamolichi at each pole was to prevent, if possible, the ball
thrown by the opposite party, from striking the pole C. ; and throw it back
towards the pole D. to their own party ; while that of the Hattak fabussa at
pole C. was to prevent this, catch the ball themselves, if possible, and hurl
It against the pole C, and the business of the Falamolichi and Hattak fabussa
at the pole D. was the same as that at the pole C. In the centre, between
the two poles, were also stationed the same number of each party as were
stationed at the poles, called Middle Men, with whom was a chief "Medicine
man," whose business was to throw the ball straight up into the air, as the
signal for the play to commence. The remaining players were scattered
promiscuously along the line between the poles and over different portions of
the play-ground.
All things being ready, the ball suddenly shot up into the air from the
vigorous arm of the Medicine Man, and the wash-o-ha (playing) began. The
moment the ball was seen in the air, the players of both sides, except the
Falamolichi and Hattak fabussa, who remained at their posts, rushed to
the spot, where the ball would likely fall, with a fearful shock. Now began