are extremely picturesque; more especially those in which we find the old curiosity-shops, the silversmiths and the silk-mercers, where the signboards present a most attractive display of brilliant and varied colours, as indeed, in the one through which we have just been passing.
Striking thence by a narrow alley into a back lane, we find ourselves in a very poor neighbourhood with dingy, dirty hovels filled with operatives, who are busily at work ; some weaving silk; others embroidering satin robes; others again, carving and turning the ivory balls and curios which are the admiration of foreigners. Entering one shop we were shown an elaborately carved series of nine ivory balls, one within the other. It is commonly believed that these balls are first carved in halves and then joined together so perfectly as to look solid. But as we watch a man working on one of them the mystery is grad- ually solved. The rough piece of solid ivory is first cut into a ball ; it is then fixed into a primitive-looking lathe and turned with a sharp tool in various positions until it becomes perfectly round. It is then set again in the lathe and drilled with the requisite number of holes all round. After this one hole is centred, a tool bent at the end is passed in, and with this a groove is produced near the heart of the sphere ; another hole is then centred, and after that another, the same operation being carried out with all the holes until all the grooves meet and a small ball drops into the centre. In this way all the balls, one within the other, are ultimately released. The next operation is carving the innermost ball; this is accomplished by means of long drills and other delicate tools, and in the same way all the rest of the balls are carved in succession, the carving gradually becoming more easy and elaborate until the outside ball is reached, and this is then finished with a delicate beauty that
