_lignum vitae_ bowls in single-handed games and
(as a rule) in friendly games, but only two in matches. Every bowl must
have a certain amount of bias, which was formerly obtained by loading
one side with lead, but is now imparted by the turner making one side
more convex than the other, the bulge showing the side of the bias. No
bowl must have less than No. 3 bias--that is, it should draw about 6 ft.
to a 30 yd. jack on a first-rate green: it follows that on an inferior
green the bowler, though using the same bowl, would have to allow for a
narrower draw. It is also a rule that the diameter of the bowl shall not
be less than 4-1/2 in. nor more than 5-1/4 in., and that its weight must
not exceed 3-1/2 lb. The jack or kitty, as the white earthenware ball to
which the bowler bowls is called, is round and 2-1/2 to 2-3/4 in. in
diameter. On crown-greens it is customary to use a small biased wooden
jack to give the bowler some clue to the run of the green. The bowler
delivers his bowl with one foot on a mat or footer, made of india-rubber
or cocoa-nut fibre, the size of which is also prescribed by rule as 24
by 16 in., though, with a view to protecting the green, Australasian
clubs employ a much larger size, and require the bowler to keep both
feet on the mat in the act of delivery.

In theory the game of bowls is very simple, the aim of the player being
to roll his bowl so as to cause it to rest nearer to the jack than his
opponent's, or to protect a well-placed bowl, or to dislodge a better
bowl than his own. But in practice there is every opportunity for skill.
On all good greens the game is played in rinks of four a side, there
being, however, on the part of many English clubs still an adherence to
the old-fashioned method of two and three a side rinks. Ordinarily a
match team consists of four rinks of four players each, or sixteen men
in all. The four players in a rink are known as the leader, second
player, third player and skip (or driver, captain or director), and
their positions, at least in matches, are unchangeable. Great
responsibility is thus thrown on the skip in the choice of his players,
who are selected for well-defined reasons. The leader has to place the
mat, to throw the jack, to count the game, and to call the result of
each end or head to the skip who is at the other end of the green. He is
picked for his skill in playing to the jack. It is, therefore, his
business to "be up." There is no excuse for shor