Ball Play. (From Catlin's N.A. Indian Collection) / Catlin del on Stone by McGahey.
The initiation of a Choctaw ball game. Players from both teams, some of whom are coated in white clay, jostle each other for position around each of the two goal posts as they wait for the match balls to fall after having been tossed in the air. In the midst of the field stands a group of medicine men who got the game underway by throwing the balls in the air and firing a gun, and who are to act as the game's judges. A number of Choctaw women, who have all placed bets on the game's outcome, can also be seen chasing after individual players (presumably their husbands) and whipping them.
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