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no matter how, it counts as one in the game, the whole number of which is commonly twelve. Each party has its own particular side from the middle ground.

The only restrictions are, that no person is to become angry, make use of blows, or catch a ball in its descent, after being thrown in the air, or from the ground, with his hands; the bats being exclusively used for that purpose: after catching the ball with bats, it may be conveyed by the hand.

The parties thus arranged, an old man delivers a short oration, and throws the ball perpendicularly in the air. Every person now strives to get possession of it. Sometimes it is caught in its descent; but he who catches it, is frequently seized by some person at his back, who throws his heels in the air and his head and shoulders to the ground, and the ball is taken from him. Often when his adversary is in the act of raising him up for the purpose of prostrating him violently, he contrives to throw the ball a considerable distance towards his end of the ball ground. Most commonly, however, in the general