Men of Muscle, and the Highland Games of Scotland, etc.

THE HIGHLAND GA:\IES OF SCOTLAND. 3 wooden handle are still used, the head being cast round ; but in Ireland and America a lead head and cane, or other supple material are in vogue, wire being the material of the latest and most approved handles. In the Scots style the hammer is thrown from behind the caber or other temporary stance, and must be delivered "fair stand." In America and in Ireland the athlete throws from a nine-foot circle, inside which he is allowed to turn as often as he chooses. The turning style, and thin, supple handles, give the foreigners an incalculable advantage in the matter of dis– tance over our own champions. However, if Flannigan or Kiely were to visit the Scottish games and compete under that rule, despite their great distances in the turning style, they would stand little chance against Morrison or Johnston if compelled to throw Scots style. On the other hand, if the posi– tion is reversed, and Morrison and Johnston were to meet the Irishmen in their style, the Scotsmen would be equally at fault. Tossing the caber was Scottish at the beginning, and still remains so. No foreigner has ever been able to cope with the home grown article in this department. There are different opinions as to how the sport came into existence. Many believe that when cutting down trees in the Highlands the woodman, after felling the tree, had often to transport it across burns or small rivers, with which the Highlands abound, and the easiest method was to toss the stick, caber– fashion, from the one bank to the other. If the young trees would land on the opposite bank and remain there, this theory might find credence; but the caber does not always go in the direction in which it is meant to go, and the chances are it would land at the bottom of the stream in– stead of on the opposite shore. No; it began as a sport, and not as a means of transit. The Picts probably knew nothing of it; they seem to have spent most of their time building castles in out of the way places; but the clansmen did not take so much trouble