Omniana/Volume 1/Mexican Tennis

by Robert Southey

74. Mexican Tennis.

The Mexicans had one singular law in their play with the ball. In the walls of the court where they played, certain stones like mill-stones were fixed, with a hole in the middle, just large enough to let the ball pass through; and whoever drove it through, which required great skill, and was, of course, rarely effected, won the cloaks of the lookers-on. They, therefore, took to their heels to save their cloaks, and others pursued to catch them, which was a new source of amusement.