BO Spectacle Glasses. — Papyrus. 



short time, the glass becomes soft and yielding : the paste in the holes 

 keeps the bits from being compressed, and from an elongated they 

 assume a spherical shape : when this is done, the paste is worked 

 out by the sand, and the latter penetrating into the holes, the hard, 

 sharp edges are rounded and smoothed, and the heads are soon 

 brought to the shape in which we see them in the market. When 

 cooled, the sand is sifted from them, and after being rubbed in a cloth 

 for the purpose of brightening them, they are fit for use. 



The quantity manufactured is very great. They are worked up 

 into ladies' bags, sashes, watch guards, shawls, and even caps. Sic. 

 and as these are tastefully displayed, a bead shop along the piazza 

 of St. Mark's is a very pretty object. 



3. Spectacle Glasses. 



Going along an obscure street one day, my attention was attracted 

 by some curious fixtures in a shop, and on going in, I found they 

 were preparing spectacle glasses. One set of the apparatus may be 

 taken as a specimen of all. It consisted of a hemisphere of stiff 

 putty, with another concave one of lead to fit on to it : the latter hav- 

 ing its surface sprinkled with emery or some such article. The 

 glasses having been first cut of the proper shape, and having had 

 their sharp edges taken off, were pressed into the surface of the put- 

 ty, and the leaden hemisphere was made by the hand to move ra- 

 pidly over, both vertically and horizontally. In a short time, they 

 were worked down so as to form a part of the smooth surface of the 

 hemisphere : and the other side having undergone the same opera- 

 tion, the process was completed. Their convexity was thus, of 

 course, uniform, a primary object in glasses of this kind. For con- 

 cave glasses, the hemispheres were simply reversed. 



4. Papyrus. 



Inclosed you will find a small sheet of papyrus, manufactured from 

 plants growing in the neighborhood of Syracuse, in Sicily. One of 

 my first excursions, among the numerous interesting objects that lie 

 about this city, was to the papyrus region ; and on the whole, I was 

 highly gratified. 



The harbor of Syracuse is large, and its upper end is lined with 

 low marshy lands. Among these, winds a small river, or what we 

 should call a very small creek ; and on the banks of this, about two 

 miles from its mouth, the papyrus commences. We had been for- 



