Tilting In The Water
Source text
Section titled “Source text”For this we usually have two boats or war canoes manned by four men each. These are a spearman, who is also a captain, a pilot, and two oarsmen.
The spearman is armed with a light pole or bamboo eight or ten feet long, with a soft pad on the end. Sometimes this is further provided with a hook. This is a forked branch with limbs a foot long; one is lashed to the bamboo, the other projecting out a foot, and slightly backward. The end of the spear and the fork are now thoroughly padded with burlap to the shape of a duck’s head and bill. And it must be cased in waterproof, to keep it from getting wet and heavy. The object of the hook is to change suddenly from pushing, and to pull the enemy by hooking round his neck. Each boat should have a quarter-deck or raised platform at one end, on which the spearman stands.
The battle is fought in rounds and by points.
To put your opponent back into the canoe with one foot counts you five; two feet, ten. If he loses his spear you count five (excepting when he is put overboard). If you put him down on one knee on the fighting deck, you count five; two knees, ten. If you put him overboard it counts twenty-five. One hundred points is a round.
A battle is for one or more rounds, as agreed on. It is forbidden to hook or strike below the belt. The umpire may dock for fouls.
Metadata
Section titled “Metadata”- Type: game
- Traits: Not stated in the source
- Source: Ernest Thompson Seton, Boy Scouts Handbook: The Games (1911)
- Printed pages: 296–297
- Digital edition: Digital edition · Source record
- Open the edition at the relevant page: p. 296
- Read the automatic translation: bsh-004