-bands, while the others may wear white ones.

A peculiar feature is that the men toss along a small ball as they
run, each party having one of their own. These balls are about
two and a half inches in diameter and carved from the root of the
oak. The foremost runner kicks it with the toes of his right foot,
so as to make it bound along as far as 100 yards, and he and all
the men behind him follow in the same trot as before. The first man
reaching it again kicks it onward. It must never be touched by the
hand, unless it happens to fall in some awkward place, as between
stones or in a water-pool, when it is picked up and kicked on.

There is never any laid-out track, but the circuit is determined in a
general way by crosses cut in trees. There are certain favourite places
always used as race-courses. The runners seem to have a preference
for the level tops of low ridges lying in a circle, wherever this is
possible. If this is not feasible, they may run forward and back on
a ridge, starting always near the middle, from some little plane or
other convenient place, where the people gather for the occasion.

There is a manager for each party, and the two arrange the time
and place for the race to be held, also the number and length of
the circuits to be made. A circuit may measure from three to twelve
miles in extent, and when the circuits are short as many as twenty
may be agreed upon. At one race-course near Carichic, the circuit
is about fourteen miles long, and twelve circuits may be run here
without stopping. Runners of equal ability are matched against each
other, each side being, of course, anxious to secure the best. The
managers take care of their men until the race comes off. The training
consists mainly in abstinence from tesvino for two or five days before
the event. When preparing for a big race the runners may practise;
not that they need training in running, for that comes to them as
naturally as swimming to the duck; but only that they practise kicking
the ball and try the ground.

Much more important are the magical devices by means of which they
endeavour to secure their own success and to defeat their opponents. A
daring manager may go to a burial cave, taking two balls with him. He
digs out a bone, preferably the tibia from the right leg, and sets
it on the floor of the cave in which it has been found. In front of
it he places a jar with tesvino and some vessels containing food. On
either side of thes