The boy travellers in the Far East : adventures of two youths ... - Library

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THE BOY TRAVELLERS.
.JATAXliSE JIETAL CLOISONNE.
be sufficient. Frank acted upon this liint, and did not make any exten-
sive investments in Japanese ivory. He found a great variety of what
tlie Japanese call " nitsehkis,'' which are small pieces of ivory carved in
various shapes more or less fanciful. They were prett}^ and had the merit
CIIINESB POUCELAIS CLOISONNE.
of not being at all dear; and as they
would make nice little souvenirs of
Japan, he bought a good many of them.
They are intended as ornaments to be
worn at a gentleman's girdle, and in the
olden times no gentleman considered his
dress complete without one or more of
these at his waist, just as most of the
fashionable youths of America think
that a scarf-pin is necessary to make
life endurable. A large numljcr of
carvers made a living by working in
ivory, and they displayed a wonderful
Ji] amount of patience in completing their
'ffj designs. One of these little carvings
with which Frank was fascinated was a
I'epresentation of a man mounting a
horse with the assistance of a groom,
who was holding the animal. The piece
was less than two inches in length, and
yet the carver had managed to put in
this contracted space the figures of two
men and a horse, with the dress of the
men and the trappings of the horse as
carefully shown as in a painting. There