NINE PINS. PLATE XVI. FOR the practice of this game, the ground should be perfectly level. The nine-pins or pieces of wood are of a conical shape; the pointed extremity terminating frequently in a nob. They must be sufficiently large at the base to stand upright. They are arranged in parallel lines of three each. The ball is large, and generally pierced with a large hole for the four fingers and a round hole for the thumb. Some balls have only the last hole, but the best have two, as they are then more easily held, and can be thrown with greater force. The players stand at a distance settled by mutual consent; and each in turn casts the bowl at the pins; the object being to beat them down in the fewest throws. After the first throw, the pins that were knocked down are again put up, and the score marked. Y The player, who, at this throw, is much nearer, is in so advantageous a position that sometimes the whole nine are brought down at one blow. The game consists of a certain number of points; and one chalk or score is reckoned for every pin fairly struck down. In the game of Skittles, there is a double effort; one by bowling, and the other by what is called tipping. The first is performed at a given distance; and the second, standing close to the frame upon which the pins are placed, and throwing the bowl through in the midst of them. This game consists in obtaining thirty-one chalks precisely: less loses, or at least gives the antagonist a chance of winning the game; and more requires the player to begin again for nine, which must be exactly attained, to secure the game. FOUR CORNERS is so called from the game being played with four very large pins, varying from eighteen to twenty-eight pounds each, and a ball of about fourteen pounds. The pins are placed in a lozenge form, and the ball is bowled against them. This game requires a great deal of muscular power, as the players have to throw the ball from twenty to thirty feet; the distance varying according to the fancy of the players. NINE HOLES, in the game of that name, are made in a square board, and disposed in three rows, three holes in each row, all of them at equal distances, about twelve or fourteen inches apart; and to every hole is affixed a numeral, from one to nine, so placed as to form the number fifteen in every row. The board, thus prepared, is fixed horizontally upon the ground, and surrounded on three sides with a gentle acclivity. Each of the players being then furnished with a certain number of small metal balls, stands in his turn, by a mark made upon the ground, about five or six feet from the board, at which he bowls the balls: according to the value of the figures belonging to the holes into which they roll, his game is reckoned; and he who obtains the highest number is the winner. CURLING. PLATE XVII. THIS is one of the games of Scotland. Pennant, in his Tour in Scotland, thus describes it"Of all the sports of these parts, that of curling is a favorite, and one unknown in England. It is an amusement of the winter, and played on the ice, by sliding, from one mark to another, great stones of 40lbs. to 70lbs. weight, of a hemispherical form, with an iron or wooden handle at top. The object of the player is to lay his stone as near the mark as possible, to guard that of his partner which had been well laid before, or to strike off that of his antagonist." The rink, or course, is that part of the ice which is chosen for the game, in consequence of its being level, smooth, and without cracks, especially longitudinally or obliquely. The length of the rink is generally from thirty to fifty yards, according to the smoothness of the |