Page:Lacrosse- The National Game of Canada (New Edition).djvu/72

has retarded development, is in trying to imitate the Indian game to the very letter. Now this is simply as absurd as attempting to live as he does. They are differently situated, and the most degenerate have, as a rule, better inherent constitutions than the majority of white men; and if the present generation of them, modified the game from the original to suit their present habits and mode of life, how much more should we, who are inferior to them in wind and endurance, temper it to suit us. A sensible, thoroughly civilized people cannot, and should not, play Lacrosse exactly after the manner of the Indian. The fact that they may beat the pale-face, is more a proof of their superior physical nature, than any evidence of their superior science. They play on their old principle of war, viz.: to have the most men at the critical points of attack and defence, and obey no arrangement of any kind. Every Indian feels that where the ball is, there he should be, and though they do not altogether abandon an instinctive disposition, the glory of Lacrosse to them is in the exciting chases after the ball. The Indian village game was not intellectual enough for the whites, and needed systematizing; but never let this improve-