64 MR HARDY ON BOWLING. 



usually the highway, which is preferred for its smoothness. At other 

 times recourse is had to moors and commons, or the gently undulating 

 sands by the sea-shore. The bowls used are almost invariably of stone, 

 being manufactured during their vacancies from labour, of which they 

 have no lack. Frequently the large bowls have a hole grooved in the 

 side, for the insertion of the thumb, to facilitate throwing. The highest 

 weight used is forty ounces. Such a ball is as much as a man can con- 

 veniently grasp and hurl. If a bet is to be decided, the balls are 

 scrupulously weighed, the weight being reckoned by the amount of 

 ounces they contain. The grocer who must attend to the wants of his 

 customers in a variety of respects generally performs this good office. 

 When one challenges another the weight is always predetermined. Only 

 two individuals play, but they can have an indefinite number of marrows 

 or sidesmen. The merit of the game depends either upon a single 

 throw of the bowl to a surpassing distance, launched in the manner 

 which in Scotland is called a hainsh, being precisely the fashion after 

 which the Greek Airxog was impelled ;* or, as is more frequent, a de- 

 terminate number of ejaculations" are appointed, and victory is the re- 

 ward of him who " measures out the greatest length of ground."t A 

 coat, hat, or stick, is put down at the place where the bowl rests, and 

 from this as a starting point, with the prefatory ceremony of a race of 

 long steps to give increased impulse, the next throw has to be taken. 

 One of the sidesmen runs before, and lays himself down at the spot 

 most suitable for the ball striking, in order that his marrow may direct 

 his aim thither. Here he will squat till the bowl be close upon him, 

 though at the impetus with which it is moving, it would be sufficient 

 not only to stun him with its stroke, but even to kill him outright. 

 Were it not for the path being pointed out, the bowl might be diverted 

 from the track by a stone, or might be plunged in a mossy soil or ditch. 

 Parties to whom such unpleasant mishaps have befallen, may at times be 

 observed standing with the greatest unconcern, tossing the ball from the 

 middle of a pool of water. The art of the game consists in sending the 

 bowl straight and low at setting off, so as to strike the place where the 

 sidesman indicates, it may have free course to roll onwards unobstructed. 

 If cast at too great an elevation, it rebounds, and coming a second time 



of Junii [1598], ane conventioun held [at Edinburgh] at q^^ ther wes maid certaine 

 actis." * * * "4. Yt. the Monday eould be a day of absteining from work." — 

 Birrel's Diarey, p. 46. 



* Potter's Greek Antiquities, by Prof. Dunbar, vol. i. p. 502. 



t Mackenzie's View of Northumberland, vol. i. p. 210. 



