San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-07-24
SCOTCH GAMES.
Feats of Strength Engaged in by
Hardy Highlanders.

In the north of Scotland has its great
Highland gathering; but the two
chief ones are Braemar and Inverness.
The latter is called the Northern
meeting, and has park retained all
the year round for it.
The clans, arrayed in all the pomp
and panoply of their war-dress, in
"garb of old Gaul, )" each wearing it's
own tartan, each headed by its own
chieftian, come from almost every
part of the Northeastern Highlands
to Braemar, with banners floating and
bag-pipes playing, !spirit-stirring
sight to see.
Throwing the Heavy Hammer
| This is nearly always the first game.
The competitors, stripped to the
waist, toe the line one after the other,
and try their strength and skill, the
judges, after each throw, being ready
with the tape.
Though an ordinary heavy hammer
will suit any one for amateur practice,
the real thing is large ball, fastened
to the end of long handle of hard,
| tough wood.
1t is balanced aloft and swung
| about several times before it quits the |
| hands of Hercules, and, comet-like, |
| files through the air with all the |
| velocity and force that can be COM
| municated to it.
Donald Dinnie, though he wants
but two years of being 0, ranks high |
among the athletes and wrestlers of |
the world. There is good story told
of Donald when exhibiting his PROV
ess for the first time in America. The
crowd, 1t seems, gave him a too limi-
ifa1 rinnr Thnu lid IL |
then.
"Gang back wee Bit" cried DON
aid.
The ring widened
Gang back a wee YETI he roared.
The crowd spread out.
But when third time Donald cried,
"Gang backw they laughed in de.
rision.
Then Donald's Scotch blood got up.
He swung the great hammer; it left
his hands, and flew right over the
heads of the onlookers, alighting in
the field beyond.
No one in San Francisco would COM
pete with Donald so he got the rec
ords of other athletes, and at public
exhibition beat them all.
Throwing the light hammer is an
other game of the same kind.
Putting the stone-the stone, as an
Irishman would say, is a heavy,
round iron ball. You plant the left
foot firmly in advance of the right,
then, balancing the great stone,
or ball on the palm of the right hand
on level with the head for q few
moments, you send it flying from you
as far as possible. There is not only
great strength required, but a good
deal of skill, which practice alone can
give.
Tossing the Caber-The caber is a
small tree, perhaps a larch, with the
branches all off. You plant your
foot against the thin end of it, while
man raises it right up-heavy end
uppermost-and supports it in the
air until you have bent down and
raised it on your palms.
The immense weight of it makes
you stagger about to keep your bal
ance, and you must toss it so that
when the heavy end touches the
ground it shall fall right over and lie
in a line towards you.
This game requires great skill and
strength, and it is seldom indeed that
more than one man succeeds in toss ,
ing the caber fair and square.
There are heavy and light ham,
mers, there are heavy and light put
ting stones, but there is but one caber,
and at this game the mighty Donald
Dinnie has no rival
The jumping and vaulting approach
more to our style of games, and need
not be here described; and the same
may be said about the racing, with
probably one exception-the sack
race.
The competitors have to don the
sacks, which are then tied firmly
round the neck, then at given signal
away they go, hopping, jumping or
running with little short steps.
1t is very amusing, owing to the
many tumbles the runners get, and
the nimble way they sometimes re-
cover their equilibrium, though very
often no sooner are they up than they
are down again.
There usually follows this mad
kind of steeplechase three times
round the course, which is every
where impeded with distractions,
the favorite ones being barrels with
both ends knocked out. Through
these the competitors have to crawl,
if they be not long-legged and agile
enough to vault right over them.
The dancing and the bagpipe play
ing attract great attention, and with
these the games usually conclude.
The dancing commences with a
sailors hornpipe in character, and
right merrily several of the competi-
e (. =. 4 i 4