Thus the ball
is thrown and contended for till one party succeeds in casting it beyond
the bounds of the opposite party. A hundred players on a side are
sometimes engaged in this exciting game. Betting on the result often
runs high. Moccasins, pipes, knives, hatchets, blankets, robes and guns
are hung on the prize-pole. Not unfrequently horses are staked on the
issue and sometimes even women. Old men and mothers are among the
spectators, praising their swift-footed sons, and young wives and
maidens are there to stimulate their husbands and lovers. This game is
not confined to the warriors but is also a favorite amusement of the
Dakota maidens, who generally play for prizes offered by the chief or
warriors. (See _Neill's Hist. Minn._, pp 74-5; _Riggs' Takoo Wakan_, pp
44-5, and _Mrs. Eastman's Dacotah_, p 55.)
[3] Pronounced _Wah-zee-yah_--the god of the North, or Winter. A fabled
spirit who dwells in the frozen North, in a great _teepee_ of ice and
snow. From his mouth and nostrils he blows the cold blasts of winter. He
and _I-to-ka-ga Wi cas-ta_--the spirit or god of the South (literally
the "South Man") are inveterate enemies, and always on the war-path
against each other.
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