LACROSSE. An American outdoor game played with a small ball and a hooked stick fitted with a loose net. It undoubtedly originat ed among the North American Indian:. and was widely played by then]. It was frequently of a ceremonial nature. in the preparation of the young men of a tribe for the war-path. The gen eral character of the game was the same among all the tribes, with various minor differences. especially in the size and shape of the stick, or erosse. The original ball was of bide stuffed with hair. of bark, or of the knot of a tree. The goals were often any convenient rocks or trees: but at grand matches a single pole or two-pole goal was used. situated from 500 t9 half a mile or more apart. the ball to pass the line, strike the pole. or pass between two poles, according to local custom. The Choctaws (according to Catlin) used two poles 25 feet high and 6 feet apart. with a crossbar. sugges tive of the football goal. Games lasted for hours. The players, who were put through a long course of training. were as a rule almost nude. and often decorated with paint and feath ers, old medicine men usually acting as umpires. Catlin saw the game played by from GOO to 1000 at a time, and described the Olympic beauty of the contest as beyond all praise. The night before an important game a ceremonial dance occurred.
MonEnx LACROSSE. The name was given to the game by the French explorers, from the erosse or crooked stick with which it is played. It was taken up by white men about 1840, when a club in Montreal was formed. About 1860 the game became popular in Canada, and in 1861 a notable game between the 3iont real and Beaver clubs, and the Caughnawaga and tsaint Regis Indians—twenty-five players a side—was played before King Edward VII., then Prince of Wales. In 1867 practical rules were formulated by Dr. W. G. Beers, the father of modern lacrosse. and in the same year the .Na lional Lacrosse Association of Canada was formed. A club was formed in Glasgow, Scot land (1867). by a Canadian player, and an In dian team -,vas taken to England and France, where exhibition games were played. A second club was formed in London. Lacrosse was for a long time not much played in England. but it is now very popular there. There are five la crosse associations in Canada, and the game has been developed by club and college players to a high point of excellence. Lacrosse was intro duced into the United -tates in the early seven ties. A national association was formed in 1879. and the game is now much played in the East among athletic clubs and colleges.