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the confidence placed in their sorceries, that it would probably, in many instances, damp the spirit & energies of the party to such a degree, that defeat would be the consequence.

At three or four o'clock p:m:, and sometimes later, when the shades of evening render the atmosphere cool & pleasant, the parties, after stripping and applying a short covering around the loins, and, frequently, painting themselves from head to foot in a fantastical manner, meet at the middle ground; prepared with bats, resembling large ladles, from one & a half, to three feet, in length.

The parties now arrange their bets; (the bystanders having done this at their leisure;) and generally stake their wearing apparel, handkerchiefs, knives, belts, &c. they arrange themselves in couples, every man having his particular antagonist; and appoint drivers, whose business it is to direct, encourage; and sometimes to urge on the indolent, by corporal punishment. Every time a ball, (a small round substance generally covered with deerskin) is conveyed through the stakes at one of the extremities of the ball-ground, no