SKALDS 



5397 



SKATES AND SKATING 



on the south (see colored map, following page 

 2092). It is the connecting link between the 

 North Sea and the Cattegat, the two forming 

 the entrance into the Baltic Sea. Along the 

 shores of Jutland there is no secure anchorage, 

 for the coast is lined with dangerous sand banks, 



LOCATION MAP 



but along Norway, eighty miles away, there are 

 several good harbors, the water being over 

 2,000 feet deep. In the spring of 1916 a battle 

 between the German and British fleets was 

 fought in the Skagerrack (see WAR OF THE NA- 

 TIONS). 



SKALDS, skawlds, among the Scandinavian 

 races, the name given to the poets who in a 

 measure corresponded to the bards of Great 

 Britain. They lived at the court of some prince, 

 and sang the praises of living heroes and war- 

 riors or of the ancestors of their patron. The 

 folk poets who composed roughly and without 

 rules were not reckoned among the skalds, who 

 had to be well educated and versed in all the 

 forms and traditions of Norse poetry. Skalds 

 flourished in Norway as early as the ninth cen- 

 tury, and the latest ones lived in the latter half 

 of the thirteenth. 



SKAT, skaht, a game of cards of German 

 origin, supposed to have been invented in 1817 

 by a lawyer in Saxe-Altenburg. It may be 

 played by three or four persons. When there 

 are four the dealer takes no part in the game 

 though he shares the winnings and losses of the 

 three players. Skat is the most complicated 

 and scientific card game known. It is usually 

 played for money, but the skill required con- 

 siderably reduces the element of luck. 



Thirty-two cards, with four suits, are used. 

 The four suits correspond to hearts, spades, 

 clubs and diamonds but are called respectively 

 Roth (red), hearts; Grun (green), spades; 

 Eichel (acorn), clubs; and Schellen (bells), dia- 

 monds. The eight cards of each suit run from 

 seven up to ace. The suits have different 



values, clubs being highest, followed in order 

 by spades, hearts and diamonds. The dealer 

 gives three cards to each player, then four, 

 then three again, making a total of ten cards, 

 and he puts aside two cards for skat. Knaves 

 are regarded as trumps, and they take all other 

 trumps. Counting is very complicated, each 

 suit having a different value. Manuals of card 

 games give full particulars of the game of skat, 

 which has never become very popular in 

 America, owing to its complications and' diffi- 

 culties. 



Consult Foster's Skat Manual; Hoyle's Games. 



SKATE, a flat-bodied fish, belonging to the 

 ray family. It has a pointed snout, expanded 

 pectoral fins, which form with the body a 

 round disk, and a slender tail that has lost its 

 function of locomotion and is used only as a 

 rudder. Skates are usually found on sandy 

 bottoms not far from shore. They feed on 

 mollusks, crustaceans and fishes. Most species 

 are edible. The common skate of the Atlantic 

 coast of North America is a foot or two in 

 length. The barn-door skate is larger, reaching 



SHOVEL-NOSED SKATE 



four feet in length, and there is a species off 

 the California coast that sometimes grows to 

 be six feet long. Another well-known species 

 is the shovel-nosed skate. The egg cases of the 

 fish are sometimes picked up on shore. They 

 are popularly called "mermaids' purses." A 

 deep-sea skate has been discovered near the 

 Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic. 



SKATES AND SKATING. A modern skate 

 is a steel blade affixed to a wooden or metal 

 base. It is fastened to the shoe by means of 

 straps, clamps, or screws. There are several 

 well-known types. The club skate is entirely 

 of metal and is clamped on the foot. Its blade 

 is rocker shaped. The Hudson River skate has 

 a long and narrow straight blade, wooden top 

 and straps. The Norwegian skate, introduced 



