are banded together in rowing associations for the purpose of giving yearly regattas. The largest of these, the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen, was formed in 1873. The first American College boat club was formed at Yale in 1843, and the next at Harvard in 1844, and the two colleges rowed their first race in 1852. Since that time they have met almost every year, sometimes alone, and sometimes in connection with other colleges. list of all the intercollegiate races held up to the present time, with the times of the contending crews, is given in the Appendix. to be formed for pleasure rowing, | dreds of such clubs, most of which and about the same time it was taken up as a sport by the English public schools and universities. Eton had a crew in 1811, and in 1817 beat the watermen in a fouroared race. In 1829 the first race was rowed between Oxford and Cambridge, on the Thames, and since 1856 these two universities have rowed every year. Since 1839 there has been also a great regatta annually at Henley-on-Thames. In this country amateur rowing began at about the same time as in England, but it did not become popular so soon. The first recorded race was between crews from New York City and Long Island, in 1811, and took place with four-oared barges with coxswains on the North River. The New York boat, the "Knickerbocker," won. The first regular amateur boat club in America-the Castle Garden Amateur Boat Club Association, was organized in 1834. At the present time there are hun A Since the introduction of boatracing, the racing-boat has been greatly changed. At first it was 35 feet long and 6 feet beam, and weighed 700 pounds. The oars were clumsy, of great size, and loaded with lead at the handle, while the blades were wide and flat. As early as 1828 rude wooden outriggers were attached to boats, but the outrigger as it is now used was invented by Henry Clasper, of Newcastle, England, who built his first boat with them in 1844. The sliding seat and the swivel rowlock were both invented by Americans. The former was devised by J. C. Babcock, who put one, in a sculling-boat in 1857, but the device was not perfected till 1870, nor generally adopted till several years later. boat in front of it, and when this is done, the bumped boat yields its place to the other. This is repeated several times, and the boat that wins or keeps a place at the head is the victor. This arrangement is not necessary in any of the American colleges where boating is practised, for all of them row on wide bodies of water. At Yale and Harvard each class has its boat club, and there is a class regatta twice a year. These regattas, like the At Oxford and Cambridge there" bumping races" at the English are a large number of boat clubs, which compete every year for the honor of being what is called "the head of the river." As the rivers on which they row are too narrow to allow boats to pass easily, the shells are arranged in a line at equal distances apart. The object of each is to strike against, or "bump" the universities, serve to train oarsmen pelling a boat, have been proposed, and some of them actually used. Most are on the principle of the paddle-wheel, and are worked like a tricycle. The illustration shows one invented by a Frenchman. The swan-boats in Central Park, New York, are propelled in this way, and the Prince of Wales has one of a similar kind at his estate of Sandringham. ROYAL STAR, a game played by any number of persons, with an eight-pointed wooden star, and eight wooden balls. The rays of the star are arranged so as to fall out if struck by the balls, and each ray is of a different color, the balls being painted to correspond. The players take turns in throwing the balls at the star. Each scores one point every time he hits a ray with a ball of a different color, two points when he hits one with a ball of the same color, and has three points deducted from his score when he misses the star altogether. Each player throws These, with others paid in like all the balls before the next takes manner, form the pool, which is his turn, and the game ends after a taken at the end of the game by number of rounds previously agreed the player having the highest on. The game may be played with score. counters, when, instead of having points taken from his score, one who misses is required to place three counters in the middle of the table. RUSHINC BASES. See PEELA WAY. RUSSIAN BACKGAMMON, See S SADDLE MY NAG, a game played | ROWING), is managed in small boats by any number of persons. Sides by means of a handle or lever, called are chosen, and the leaders decide a tiller; when the tiller is pushed to by lot who shall have first innings. one side, the rudder turns to the The losers arrange themselves as opposite side; and (as explained follows: One stands almost upright, under ROWING) as the boat turns to but bending slightly forward, his the same side as the rudder, the hand resting against a wall or tree; tiller must be moved to the side a second puts his head on the back opposite to that in which the steersof the first; a third in like man- man wishes the boat to go. The ner on the back of the second, and right-hand side of the boat, as so on, till all on that side are in one faces the bow, is called the line. Each player may hold to the starboard side, and the left-hand clothes of the one in front of him, the port side (formerly called larcross his arms on his breast, or rest board). To "port the helm," or his hands on his knees. One of "put the helm to port," means to the other players now runs, places push the tiller toward the port or left his hands on the back of the one side, thus turning the boat to the at the rear of the line, and leaps starboard or right. Large boats are as far forward as he can. The rest generally steered with an upright of those on his side follow in order, wheel connected with the rudder until all are on the backs of the by ropes, cogs, or otherwise. Small other side. If all can remain on boats are sometimes entirely open, without touching the ground with but generally half-decked, and larger any part of the body while the ones usually have a covered cabin. leader counts twenty; or if any of The bottom of a boat's hull, called the other party sink down under the floor, may be almost flat, or it their weight, or touch the ground may be more or less curved. The to support themselves, the riders depth of a boat below the water's keep their innings and the game surface is called her "draught." If is repeated. Otherwise the sides this distance is two feet, for example, change places. she is said to "draw two feet of water." Of course the draught is greater if the boat be loaded. The difference of draught between the bow and stern of a boat is sometimes called the drag. It is the best plan to ballast or trim" small boats so that the stern sinks a little deeper than the bow. SAILING. The hulls of boats are of various sizes and shapes, but all have the forward end (called the bow) sharp, that it may cut through the water. The after end, called the stern, is fitted with a rudder, with which the boat is steered. This rudder, which is the same in principle as that of a row-boat (see The boats called cutters draw a 1 great deal of water, and are narrow one kind of boat, the sharpy, is aland sharp at the bottom. This most flat-bottomed. Some sailkind of boat is much liked in Eng-boats have a keel, or ridge of wood land. Most American yachts are running from bow to stern on the broader and draw less water, and outside of the hull at its bottom, Section of Hull of an English Cutter. and others have a centreboard, a flat board which is let down at one end through a slit in the middle of the boat. Still others, generally small boats, have a leeboard, which is let down at one side. All these devices are meant to prevent the boat from drifting sidewise, so that she will move most easily forward. Sail-boats usually have rowlocks at the side so that they can be rowed when there is no wind. craft, like ships and brigs, are rigged in this way. Pleasure boats are generally fore-and-aft rigged, that is, the spars are fastened to the mast by one end, and the sail is therefore all on one side of the mast. The bottom of the sail is fastened to a longer pole, called a boom. In all boats the rope by which the sail is controlled is called the sheet. The tackle by which it is managed by the sailor is shown in the illustration. The arrangement of masts and sails constitutes the "rig" of a boat. The area of the sail in an ordinary boat should not much exceed the length of the boat multiplied by its extreme breadth. In most boats the sails are hung to spars or poles, which are raised and lowered on the mast by ropes called halliards. If the spar hangs across the mast, it is called a yard, and the vessel is said Tackle of Main-Sheet. gaff a light pole, One of the simplest rigs is the spritsail, which is nearly square. There is no boom, and in place of the called a sprit, to be square-rigged; but only large fastened at the lower end, or “foot," to the middle of the mast, and at The most common rig for ordithe other end to the upper corner nary sail-boats is the cat-rig, and of the sail. The side of the sail toward the mast (called the luff of the sail) is laced to it with cords, and the foot of the sprit rests in a loop of rope. When the foot is taken from the loop, the sail can be folded up against the mast and tied to it. The mast is usually made, in this case, so that it can be taken down or "unstepped" and laid in the bottom of the boat. The sheet is fastened to the lower outer corner of the sail. Such a sail may be used on an ordinary row-boat or on a CANOE. Another simple rig is the "legof-mutton," a triangular spritsail, having its sprit nearly at right |