and amusing from its graphic minuteness.

* * * * *


[Footnote 2: _A Faggot of French Sticks_, 2 vols. London: Murray. 1852.]




IVORY AND ITS APPLICATIONS.


The Chinese, from time immemorial, have been celebrated for their
excellence in the fabrication of ornamental articles in ivory; and,
strange to say, up to our own time, their productions are still
unrivalled. European artists have never succeeded in cutting ivory
after the manner of these people, nor, to all appearance, is it likely
they ever will. Nothing can be more exquisitely beautiful than the
delicate lacework of a Chinese fan, or the elaborate carving of their
miniature junks, chess-pieces, and concentric balls: their models of
temples, pagodas, and other pieces of architecture are likewise
skilfully constructed; and yet three thousand years ago such monuments
of art were executed with the very same grace and fidelity!

Ivory was known to the Egyptians as an article both of use and
ornament. They manufactured it into combs, rings, and a variety of
similar things. The processions on the walls of their palaces and
tombs would seem to indicate the fact of its having been obtained from
India, and also from Ethiopia or Central Africa. There is every reason