Bula Ball
A.W. Cardinall was a District Commissioner who resided in the Gold Coast [modern Ghana] for a number of years .While there, he wrote a book about the customs of the people. He lived and worked among the Ashanti during 1916-1927.One of the games he gave a descripton of resembles modern badminton.Here is the account from his book, "In Ashanti and Beyond",from 1927.
"The boys divide themselves into two parties and go outside the village to a wider clearing on one of the paths.They make a missile of an old corn cob wrapped in leaves all carefully tied together. This somewhat resembles a shuttlecock, having one end, where the cob is, heavier than the other.It is then thrown over a rope, made of a creeper, tied across the path about eight feet high. Each player has as a racket a running noose made of a very strong, almost wire like liane. The game is to catch the cob when thrown over the rope with this noose before it touches the ground.When seven have been caught by one side a victory is gained.
source : In Ashanti and Beyond by A.w.Cardinall,p 251, 1927