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The Material Culture of the Cook Islands (Aitutaki)

Tip Cat, Ipanapana

Tip Cat, Ipanapana.

This game seems to have been a kind of cricket, played with a stick instead of a ball. In reply to my suspicions regarding European influence, my informant, Monga, of Ureia, said it was played by the children of Puhipuhirangi, in the hidden land of Taki-nuku-akau. If so, it must be ancient.

The ground is the beach, where a shallow trench is dug. The striker is armed with a long stick. A short stick is laid across the trench. Inserting the point of the long stick beneath it, the striker flicks it some distance. The field attempts to catch it on the full. If caught the striker is out. If not caught, the short stick is thrown from where it landed at the trench, which seems to act as a wicket. The striker hits at the short stick in the air and endeavours to hit it as far away as possible. If the stick lands in the trench the striker is out. If he hits it and is caught on the full, he is out. If missed by the field, he steps out to where the catch was missed and measures how many lengths of the long stick there are between that point and the hole. The number of lengths constitutes a count for his side.

The next stage is to lay the short stick in a slanting position against the edge of the trench. The top end is now struck with the long stick in such a way as to cause it to spring up as in tip-cat. Whilst it is in the air, the striker endeavours to hit it as far away as possible. If he is missed by the field, he walks out to where it fell and measures the distance back to the hole in lengths of the short stick. This is added to the total, and the striker commences again as in the first part of the game. In this manner the game proceeds between the two sides.