Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/277

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234 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., i, 1899

Mo-ko-mo-ko is defined by Andrews as " to box ; to fence ; to fight ; to hold boxing matches as pastimes or games."

In New Zealand, Taylor * says, te para tnako consisted in throwing sharp-pointed sticks at each other, and skilfully warding them off by turning the body away when they saw the dart com- ing. Sometimes an unskilful person lost his life in playing this game.

Codrington ' says : " In the Solomon islands the great game is throwing and dodging spears, or sticks instead of spears. This is to some extent represented in the Banks' islands by two parties throwing native oranges at each other."

74. Ke-a-pu-a : " ARROW-THROWING."— Arrows or darts, con- sisting of the blossom end of the sugar-cane, are thrown in the following manner: A cord is wrapped around the middle of a cane arrow, the other end being fastened to a stick about four feet long (la-an-ke-a pu~a), which is held vertically at right angles to the arrow, which rests on the ground. The latter is then hurled in the air by the stick, the wrapped cord giving it a rotary motion. Four persons play, boys against boys or girls against girls, or two boys against two girls. The one whose arrow goes farthest, wins. It was formerly a man's game. It would appear from Andrews that the fore-end of the pu-a was tied with string to prevent splitting. The arrows are also called pa-pu-a t from pa, " to throw," and/tf-0, "cane arrow."

Ellis * says that in Tahiti a game called aperea prevailed. It consisted in jerking a reed, 2\ or 3 feet in length, along the ground. The men seldom played at it, but it was a common diversion of women and children.

Speaking of the amusements of the Samoans, Stair 4 says: " O le tdngatia was played by many persons at once, each one en- deavoring to propel a small light rod of the fu'afu' a, from which the bark had been peeled off as far as possible. The forefinger

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