WHIPPING TOP
Cassell's Book of Sports and Pastimes (1890's)
A whipping top should be selected, as regards its size and shape, with discretion: let it not be too high for its width, or it will overbalance itself; and let it not be too short, or it will present insufficient surface to the whip to be easily struck. The whip may be of various sorts of material: soft leather, a few boot-laces, or a piece of rope, the twisting of which has been partly undone, fastened to a stick, for a handle, will do; but the most servicable lash will be found to be that made of an eel's skin. The top is set spinning by turning it sharply round with the two hands; it is kept spinning, and the speed of its revolutions increased, by the judicious application of the whip.