482 



SKAPTA 



SKATING 



dced> of living warriors or of their ancestors. Very 

 few complete Skaldic poems are extant ; but there 

 are a great number nf fragments preset -veil, partly 

 in tin- younger Hilda (q.v.), partly in the Sagas 

 (q.v.)and tlie Heimskringla. See'SNORRl sii :: 

 LASON. 



Skapta. See ICELAND, Vol. VI., p. 60. 



Skill, .'i game played with thirty two cards as 

 in l'i<jiiet (q.v.), and said to have been inventl in 

 1817 in Altenburg, whence it rapidly spread into 

 other part* of Germany iind Ueyond the liorders of 

 the fatherland. Each of three players receives ten 

 cards, the two others being laid aside (hence the 

 name from old French etcart, 'laying aside'). 

 The values of the cards and the rules of the game 

 are expounded in numerous works one in Eng- 

 lish by L. V. Diehl (Lond. 1891 ). 



Skat**, the popular name of several species of 

 Ray (q.v.). The Common Skate ( I ;<>,< batit), 



known in Scotland 

 as the Gray Skate 

 and in the south 

 of England as the 

 Tinker, is plentiful 

 on most parts of the 

 British coasts. The 

 Burton Skate (Jt. 

 nwrginata) is an- 

 other of the British 

 species. On Ameri- 

 can coasts numer- 

 ous species occur 

 e.g. on the east, the 

 'Tobacco - box" 

 Skate ( H. erinacea ), 

 the Briar-skate (Ji. 

 eglanteria), the 

 Smooth or Barn- 

 door Skate ( R. 

 In i- is ) ; on the west, 

 /.'. inornata, and 

 (he large /,'. binociUata, which attains a length 

 of 6 feet. But a revision of the species of skate 

 is necessary. Skates are voracious fishes, feeding 

 along the bottom. Their egg-eases or mermaids 

 purses are often thrown up on the beach. They 

 are often caught on the lines, but great numbers 

 are now brought to market by the trawlers. The 



ntly expanded |>ectoral tins are eaten, but the 

 i tends to be coarse. 



Skating. Progression on ice is accomplished by 

 means of instruments composed of steel blades which 

 are fastened to the soles of the boot, and which are 

 called skates. In early times the shin bones of 

 animals were bound to the feet, and skaters glided 

 over the frozen surface on these by propelling them- 

 selves with the aid of a spiked stick. At a later 

 period the iron or steel Wades were introduced, 

 the cutting edge of which enabled the wearer to dis- 

 pense with the stick, and to push oil' with one foot 

 and glide on the <n her with alternate strokes. Stow 

 tells how the London 'pi.-iilii-r- used to 'tie hones 

 to their feet and under their heel.-.' and by that 

 means slide on the ice ; and Evelyn, under date 1st 

 December 1602, descrilies how 'divers gentlemen 

 performed before their Ma"" on the new canal in 

 St James's i'nrk, with Schrrtx after the manner of 

 the HollandiMs ' Skates are now of two kinds \ i/. 

 those made for speed -skating and those for figure- 

 skating. Both were formerly constructed by in- 

 serting the steel blade into a wooden lied, which 

 wan approximately sha|>ed to the foot and bound 

 to it by mean* of leather straps. Modern skates 

 are made entirely of metal, and are fixed either by 

 screws passing through plates (to which the blade 

 is attached) into the sole of the Imot, which form 

 of skate is known an the Mount Charles ; or they 



Common Skate (Ruin Ixitit). 



are fixed to the IxMit by various mechanical devices 

 which enable the skate to be quickly and lit inly 

 attached to the Loot, and as quickly removed, (if 

 these the skate known as the Barney and Berry i 

 the most reliable. Many speed- 

 skaters continue to use the wooden 

 bed skate. The blades of skates for 

 speed skating are made very thin, 

 aiMiiit ,'..tli of an inch, somewhat 

 longer than the foot, and very 

 slightly convex along the whole 

 length of that part of the blade 

 which conies in contact with the 

 ice. Speed-skating as a pastime 

 has lately come greatly into vogue 

 owing to the encouragement given 

 to it by the National Skating 

 Association, which, founded at Cam- 

 bridge in 1879, and transferred to 

 London in 1894, acts as the presiding 

 body in all matters appertaining to 

 skating ; and the celebrated skaters 

 of the Fen counties of England. 

 Kaees on skates are brought off on _. ., 

 tracks having one or more turns, .- " 

 and the fastest time for a mile with 

 a standing start is, for professionals, 

 2 m. 52 s., by George See, and 2 m. 52J s. by 

 James Smart (l>oth Englishmen), run on 17th 

 February- 1887, in Holland ; and for amateurs, 

 2 m. 551 8 - by T. Thomas (a Swede), on 2d 

 March 1890, at Stockholm. One mile on a straight 

 course, with a very strong wind in favour, wa 

 skated at Newbury, U.S., on 1st February 1889, 

 by T. Donoghue, m '2 m. 123 a. J. Nilsson, at 

 Montreal in 1897, skated 1 mile in 2 m. 41} s., and 

 ."> miles in 14 m. 47 s. J. J. Eden, at Haniar, 

 Norway, in 1894, skated 5000 metres ( =3Vn miles) 

 in 8 m. 37j s., and in 1895, 10,000 metres ( = 61 

 miles) in 17 m. 56 s. On 29th December 1891 

 Harold Hagen, a Norwegian, competing against 

 \\ illiam Smart, the English champion, skated ."> 

 miles in 15 m. 11 s. on Lake Mjorsen, Norway; 

 and again, competing against Smart on 3d January 

 1892, did 3 miles in 8 m. 462 *, and two miles, 

 on -Sth February, in , r > m. 43J s. The ordinary 

 travelling pace of Fen skaters is from 10 to 12 miles- 

 an hour. 



Skates for figure-skating are broader and deeper 

 in the blades, rounded at both toe and heel, and 

 with a curvature along the whole length equal to 

 that of a circle having a 7-foot radius. The Edin- 

 burgh Skating Club (1642) is the oldest club for 

 encouraging figure-skating in Britain, hut the 

 figures skated were of an elementary character 

 until after the formation of the Skating Club, 

 London ( 1830). The members of this club instituted 

 a series of combined movements known as ' The- 

 Skating Club Figures,' which have induced a mode 

 of skating peculiar to Great Britain, consisting as- 

 it does of large and l>old curves and turns, executed 

 with great power and quietness, while the body of 

 the skater is held upright, and the knee of the 

 travelling leg kept quite straight. Figure-skating is- 

 now much practised in America, Canada, Holland, 

 Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark; but 

 the nature of the skating in vogue is calculated to 

 excite astonishment at the acrobatic dexterity dis- 

 played rather than pleasure at the grace and 

 elegance of the gliding movement which should 

 distinguish good lignre skating. The skates used 

 for this style of skating have a radius of about 5 

 feet, and this curvature is given to the blade to 

 facilitate the rapid turns and short curves which are 

 practised in this mode of skating. At St Moritx, 

 Davn 1'latz, and Grindelwald there are excellent 

 ice rinks, much frequented during winter by English 

 visitants. 



