weight each. As preliminary inspection is not allowed, the bidding is purely speculative. The bulk of the shells are now sent to Trieste, a small number to London, and a few to Havre; and some of the finest and largest shells are purchased for exportation to Bethlehem, where they are engraved and sold to pilgrims.
Games of the Greek Islanders.—Some of the games of the Greek islanders are described by Mr. J. Theodore Bent, in an article on "Greek Peasant Life," as wild, some as amusing, and some as distinctly traced to antiquity, "as probably all could if we had ample records to go upon." At Easter-time the maidens of many islands have the game of swing. They hang a rope from one wall of the narrow village street to the other. On this they put some clothes to form a seat, and two maidens seated side by side, facing in opposite directions, swing, and as they swing sing local ditties, plaintive for the most part, and in a high, shrill voice. The young men try to pass by, and are called upon for a toll of a copper apiece, a song, and a swing. They generally sing such words as these: "The gold is swung, the silver is swung, and swung, too, is my love with the golden hair." To which the maiden replies, "Who is it that swings me, that I may gild him with my favor, that I may work for him a fez all covered with pearls?" Having paid his copper, the youth is allowed to pass, and another comes by and does likewise. These games at Volathia, in Karpathos, take place on the Sundays in Lent, when the young men who are home from their work on this day can be present. "We are strongly reminded of the game of swing which the maidens of Athens played in remembrance of the death of Erigone, who hung herself from a tree, when they sang plaintive ditties in honor of her name and garlanded themselves with flowers, whereas now they sing solemn ditties about the passion and resurrection of our Lord. Among the games played by the boys of Samos, I saw one which bore a curious resemblance to single-wicket cricket. They call it 'ball,' σφαῖρος. There are five players on each side. One side is in; the other fields. The one who is in defends his wicket, a stone erected on the grass, with his hand. When he hits the ball he does not run, but counts one when the ball is sent beyond a certain boundary-line they have. If the ball hits the stone, he is out. In the mountain villages of Samos may still be traced in various forms the ancient game of δακτύλον επάλλαξις, which we can see depicted on a vase for us in the Munich Museum. It exists still in Italy under the name of morra, but in its simplest form it has survived in Samos. We saw two little boys playing together. One leaned against a wall, head downward; the other placed his two fists one above the other on his playfellow's back. 'Which hand is uppermost?' he cried. The other guessed. 'No, it isn't,' was generally the reply, accompanied by a pretty smart smack. A more elaborate form of this game is when two boys, leap-frog fashion, stoop down, the foremost against the wall, and the hinder-most helping him. A third boy leaps on the back of the one nearest to him, extends a certain number of fingers, and cries, 'How many fingers in the air?' The front boy has to guess, and if wrong receives a smack from the rider. Not only among boys is this a popular game, but πόσα, 'How many?' is a favorite game at village-feasts. Six men were playing it when I saw it, three on each side. The three on one side were called the beasts of burden, that is to say, they turned their backs to the other three, who jumped upon them. Having done this, one of the riders put one hand over the eyes of his 'beast of burden' and held the other in the air, and as he did so extended some fingers and closed others, and cried, πόσα, 'How many?' If the beast of burden is stupid in guessing the right number of fingers extended, he receives sundry boxes on the ears and general rough treatment from his rider amid the laughs and jeers of the bystanders. When all three beasts of burden have guessed aright, they change places with their riders, who have to guess in their turn."
Preparation for the End of the World.—Some of the people of Birmingham, England, conceived recently that the end of the world was at hand, and adopted various queer means to mitigate the effects of the dreaded event. Old women went to their Bibles,
