EL PATO: AN EXTINCT GAME.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6362, 17 December 1898, Page 2

EL PATO: AN EXTINCT GAME.

(By W H. HUDSON.) •■■■*• (Badminton Mngozhie.) ' " ■ ■■'--■ •. .. Whenand where and how the game of El Patoiirst arose I have never heard 5 probably it was not invented or introduced by any person, but came into existence by chance, and being admirably; suited -to -the disposition and habits ,of : the horsemen on the pampas (where I imagine the game must have had its origin) it quickly grew in favour and took deep root in the country. Unlike most outdoor games it retained its original simple, rude character to the end. Pato means duck ; and to play the game, a duck or fowl, or, as was usually the case, some large domestic bird — turkey, gosling, or muscovy duek — was killed and sewn up in a piece of stout raw hide, forming A SOMEWHAT SHAPELESS BALL, twice as big as a football, and provided ■with four loops or handles of strong twisted raw hide made of a size convenient to be grasped by a man's hand. A great point was to have the ball and handles so strongly madte that three or four powerful men could take hold and tug until they dragged each other to the ground without anything giving way. Whenever it was resolved in any place to have a game, and someone had offered to provide the" bird, and the meeting place had been settled, notice would be sent round among the neighbours ; and at the appointed time all the men and youths living within a circle of several leagues would appear on the spot, mounted on their best horses. On the appearance of the man on the ground carrying the duck the others would give chase; and .by-and-by . he would bo overtaken, and the 'ball wrested from his hand ; the victor in his turn would be persued. and when overtaken there would perhaps be a scruffle or scrimmage, as in football, only the stragglers would be first, on horseback before DRAGGING EACH OTHER TO THE EARTH. Occasionally when this happened a couple* of hot-headed -players, angry at being hurt or worsted, would draw their weapons I against each other in order to find who was in the right, or to prove which was^thc better man. But fight or, no -fight, some one would get the : duck and carry it away:td be chased again. Leagues of ground would be gone over by the players in this way, »nd< at last some one, luckier. or better mounted than his fellows, would get the duck, successfully run the gauntlet of the people scattered about on the plain, and make good hi& escape. He was the victor, and it was his right to carry the bird home and have it for his dinner. This was, however, a mere sction; the man who carried off the duck made for the nearest house, followed by all the others ; and there not only the duck was cooked, but a vast amount of meat to feed the whole of the players. While the dinner was in preparation, messengers would be despatched to neighbouring houses to invite the women : and on their arrival dancing would be started and kept up all night. The game of El Pato, abolished a" lon'r time before I was born, was nothing but a memory of old and middle-aged men when I grew to boyhood and began to listen with interest to the tales of my elders. The most delightful old yarn-spinner, or historian of the vanished days. I remember at that period, was agaucho neighbour named Francisco de la Cueva, familiarly known to us as "Pancho," a dark, thin, wiry old fellow of over seventy. The reason why one of his innumerable STOBIES OF THE PAST stuck in. my mind was because it touched on an historical event of peculiar and meiancholy interest to every .Anglo- Argentine — I mean the disastrous attempt on Buenos Ayres ! by a British army. But there is also in" the j ; narrative a glimpse of the grand old game of El Pato ; and.it is curious at this distance of time to see, as by a flash of lightning, the men of those days absorbed in a pastimu which was so. much to them, and is now sa completely forgotten.