The Athletes and Athletic Sports of Scotland

TOSSING THE CABER. 57 he time only seventeenyears ofage ! In private practicein the ollowing spring, when he had completed his eighteenth year, he as throwing a hammer, fully18 lbs. weight, over 100 ft., but as suddenly cut off by a few days illness. It isidle speculating s to what he might have become; he was steadily improving ntil struck down, and we have no record ofany oneat all ap- roaching his records at his age. It is needless to say his style as as perfect as could well be ; taking everything into considera- ion, it was the best we have ever seen. CHAPTER IV. TOSSING THE CABER AND THROWING 36 LB. WEIGHT all the feats of strength practised at athletic games in Scotland tossing the caber is the most distinctively Scot- isb. If " the casting of the bar," referredto by writers of the 6th century, was much the same thing,of which there is little oubt, it was a popular featin England then, andwas practised ot only by the English yoemen, but was a favourite exercise of T enry VIII. At the presenttime itis an important item in the rogramme of every representative Scottish gathering, except in he Border and some of the other Southern Counties, and is ractised in America and the Colonies. SCOTTISH-AMERICAN STYLE.— In America the style adopted t gatherings which profess to be Scottish in character, is to measure from the point the competitor throws fromto the small nd of the caber,which is lighter than is used inScotland. The ompetitors inAmerica have thus to try to turn the caber,and t the same time to throw it as far from them as possible. If hey throw the caber too far forward it will not be turned and he throw lost, if they make sure of turning it, it will measure •ss. It is a most unsatisfactory style, because it introduces the lements of chance, andprevents the athlete putting forth all his 4