laden with presents for the pagodas. At Aynthia are marvelous ruins, of gigantic extent, and wonderful grace and beauty, telling of strength, and skill, and labor; of faith, zeal, reverence, and wealth; while over them, in all the unfettered luxuriance of the tropics, is spread the profuse ornament of tangled vegetation. At Aynthia is a "park" of elephants, extremely wonderful to see, in which the huge creatures stand patiently in drilled ranks behind the stockades. There are myriads of beautiful insects, and one peculiar spider, from which a silken thread may be drawn out, by taking hold of the end hanging from its body, to any extent; only go on until you are tired, the thread will not come to an end, or break. If poor Pinto had ventured to spin such a yarn, his character would have been worse than even it is.

At Aynthia there is gorgeous sunlight, and air unspeakably clear, and pure, and fragrant; there is such bountiful and constant sunshine, that man has but to sow and plant, and reap-he knows no further care of husbandry; delicious fruits abound, and a few bamboos suffice for shelter. M. Mouhot revels in its beauties awhile, and then goes on his way, with a kindly escort of natives, and a supply of elephants, into the solitude and depth of the woods, where an almost overpowering harmony reigns triumphant, as the birds sing in concert all day, and are accompanied by the measured, sharp, metallic cries of the innumerable insects, sounding like an army of goldsmiths at work. At Mount Phrabat, he comes to the famous temple containing the footprint of Samona-Kodom, the Buddha of Indo-China, reared amid a scene of surpassing beauty and magnificence, where some convulsion of nature has heaved up enormous rocks, and piled them into a thousand grand and fantastic forms. And the temple! The description of it is like a glimpse of the glories of Apocalyptic promise: the walls covered with arabesques of glittering crystal; the panels and cornices gilt; the massive doors of ebony and ivory, exquisitely wrought, and inlaid with mother-of-pearl; the floors covered with silver matting. Under a catafalque in the centre is the sacred footprint. The natives present different features. As the traveler proceeds

T

through the Laotian forest, they are more slender, more active, and darker than the Siamese, and of wonderful intrepidity as hunters; a quality of great value in a country which swarms with tigers, leopards, tiger-cats, jaguars, and wild boars. As M. Mouhot journeyed on through the forest, there lay ever before him the magnificent panorama of the mountain-chain, whose peaks melted into the vapory rosetints of the horizon, and whose peculiar structure and color displayed the marvelous richness of the vegetation, while above all hung the cloudless, deep blue sky. Great peace fell upon the traveler's spirit as he pursued his way, and put more and more distance between himself and the civilization of the West. find no traces in the meagre records of his journey of the revolting features of savage life; his kindly nature made him regard all human creatures kindly; and his eager and inquiring spirit invested everything with a sustaining interest, which kept weariness and despondency at bay.

We

The journey by land was less interesting and beautiful than the voyage on the great gulf, where the boat glided about among fairy islands, some inhabited by eagles only, others the dwelling-places of the iguana, and rustling with the strange sounds made by these creatures, as they trailed their loathly limbs over the dead leaves and fallen branches. Towards evening, the boat would be suffered to ground upon the mud, whence arose a strong sulphuric odor, as though a submarine volcano slept its threatening sleep beneath. One day the odor was explained, and M. Mouhot's supposition realized, for, as they floated slowly upon the broad water, under the burning sun, the waves suddenly arose, and tossed and boiled around them, and toyed with the little bark in rough and ghastly play; and then an immense jet of steam and water was flung into the air. Nature works unremittingly and rapidly in those distant laboratories, and the geological changes of the entire territory are easily to be traced. From the great gulf, they entered the Chantabour river, and rowed along its banks, rich with all the treasures of the tropics in animal and vegetable life. The splendid forest trees reared their lofty heads above the deep swift

apartments, and the invitations had been sent by herself to persons whom she honored with her particular friendship. An usher of the palace, however, believed himself permitted, and took the liberty to slip into this select circle. The Duchess de Berri soon became aware of his presence, and advanced towards him, not only to advertise him of her displeasure, but likewise to intimate to him that he must leave her apartments. The Duchess was young, impulsive-a Neapolitan-and allowed herself, perhaps a little too much, to show that she was offended and as she held her fan in her hand, and fluttered it vehemently while speaking, she unguardedly hit with it the arm of the usher. A cry was thereupon raised, so loud against the young Duchess for driving an usher of the palace from her presence with blows of her fan, that the poor Princess was in despair at the accusation, and could hardly pardon herself for this imaginary crime.

:

The other blow of the fan was that which the Dey of Algiers permitted himself to give, and which cost him the re

gency.

The history of the fan ought to commence almost with that of the world. Probably it was necessity which gave birth to it; not to make an object of amusement of it, but as a means of cooling the surrounding air for a few seconds when the heat became oppressive.

No doubt large leaves were at first employed for this purpose; but the leaf, fragile in its constituent parts, could not last long. It was soon replaced by the wings of birds, spreading wide like the sails of a ship; and these, in their turn, gave place to a number of single feathers fastened together, tied or sewed in a bunch, which served gently to agitate the air.

These fans played a prominent part in the sacred ceremonies of the ancients. The priests made use of them to preserve from the pollution of flies the animals sacrificed on the altars of the divinities for whom they officiated.

Still later the fan became one of the principal insignias of royalty. On the frescoes which decorate a temple at Thebes, we see Pharaoh Beneses III., who reigned in Egypt 300 years before the birth of our Lord, carrying in his hand a

huge fan instead of a sceptre. But we must not imagine that this fan had the form and elegance of those which ladies make use of at the present day. It was simply half of an enormous board, cut round and painted with a variety of the most brilliant colors. This kind of screen was fastened to the end of a long baton, and carried in the hand like a standaid.

Fans were very common as fly-flappers in Egypt, and men and women equally made use of them. They were formed of the plumes of the ostrich, fastened on an ornamental handle with an appropriate motto inscribed on it. The priests of Isis always carried one suspended round the neck like an amulet; but when Isis became a Greek divinity, this fan changed form into that of the caduceus of Mercury, and the feathers of the ostrich were replaced by those of a bird consecrated to the goddess.

In Greece the ladies adopted peacocks' feathers, which had been for some time used by the inhabitants of Asia Minor. Thus, in the Orestes of Euripides, a Phrygian slave relates that he had touched with a light breeze the cheeks and hair of sleeping Helen, by means of a fan formed from the feathers of the bird of Juno. We find on one of the Etruscan vases in the museum of the house, the picture of this fan, which was made with peacocks' feathers of unequal lengths, ranged in a half circle, held together by thin bands of gold, fastened on a golden handle.

As to the Roman ladies, they borrowed, to all appearance, the fashion of their fans from every country, if we may judge by the different sorts of fans to be seen on the frescoes of Pompeii; as well as that on the fresco in the museum at Naples, which represents the Nymphs playing at hide-and-seek with the Loves. The young girl who covers the eyes of Love (for this one is not blind), places a fan of peacocks' feathers before her face; while, among her companions, there is one who holds in her hand a fan made of ostrich plumes.

From others of the frescoes at Herculaneum and Pompeii, we perceive that the Romans made use of fans formed out of thin little pieces of wood; and some of these frescoes lead us even to suppose

that the leaves of the palm-tree were put to the same purpose.

But the true kingdom of the fan is China; for the Chinese are the first people who made fans that could bend and were pliable. Those of the Egyptians, of the Romans, of the Greeks, &c., were of one piece of wood-more or less elegant, more or less light, but invariably in the shape of a small portable firescreen, of which the form-square, round, pointed or oval-remained immovable.

It was at the commencement of the Christian era that a Chinese named ChiKi-Long, and who had acquired a great reputation for the manufacture of fans, imagined the idea of bringing them to perfection by beating out gold fine as the wings of the grasshopper; placing these thin leaves the one beside the other retaining them together by a narrow ribbon of gold-and then painting on either side gods and goddesses, extraordinary animals, and rare birds of exquisite plumage, in such a manner that these little golden valves, while agitating the air, might always present to the eye curious and interesting objects.

*

As to the folded fans of pliable material, they are due to the Japanese, without doubt; for one of the images of their gods-that one which presides over happiness--has between his hands a folded fan, and this image dates from about the same epoch in which flourished the Chinese inventor, Chi-Ki-Long. These first fans of the Japanese were of silk, and on them were written verses; but they were not used by women, and they still preserve them for religious ceremonies.

The Chinese maintain that the original invention of the fan is due to one of their emperors, Won-Wang, the first sovereign of the Tcheon dynasty. It appears also that among the Chinese as well as the Egyptians, fans were made use of in war as standards, or for rallying signals.

For a long time the Chinese empress had alone the right of wearing a fan. With this single exception, all the fans were consecrated to the worship of the idols of the country, and women who infringed this prohibition were punished

* Languettes d'or-golden tongues, or valves.

with death. It was only during the reign of the Emperor Houan-Fi, that the members of the Imperial Academy were honored by the gift of a bamboo fan, with permission to make use of it.

As to France, the history of the fan remains a blank, until after the return of the crusaders from the East. These pilgrims and soldiers of the Cross introduced it into Europe; but the Spaniards and the Italians availed themselves of this pretty toy, and carried it into their domestic circles, long before the French did, the latter regarding it as a piece of useless luxury. Anne of Brittany, however, having appeared with a fan in her hand on her marriage day with Louis XII., not only the ladies of her court but also all the noble provincial dames adopted the appendage of the fan which, from that period claims the right of having its history rooted in France.

Nevertheless the large fan-that is to say the flabellum-early became a principal insignia of papacy; but since the end of the thirteenth century it was no longer used at divine service, although formerly it was held during the holy mass near the officiating priest, to shield him from the rays of the sun, and to brush away the flies which might divert his attention from his sacred duties.

In the first ages of the French monastery, the flabellum was found in the sanćtuaries of churches and abbeys, and certain privileges were supposed to be attached to it. Thus, when Blanche of Castile fixed herself at Poissy for her accouchment, she begged the Prior of the rich Abbey--which Poissy then possessed--to lend her the flabellum of the convent, that she might fasten it to her bed.

This flabellum, which presided at the birth of St. Louis, is mentioned in the work of Monsieur de Sommerard, "Les Arts au Moyen-Age." It was simply formed of a large strip of folded vellum, covered with figures representing sainted men and sainted women, with golden glories round their heads, and for whom the occupants of the Abbey had a deep devotion; while above them, in the air, the Virgin Mary and Child, surrounded by angels and the magi, appeared to take their flight towards heaven.

The only fan that was seen among the

There was one of those esmouchoirs, made of gold cloth spotted with fleur-delys, displaying quartered on it the arms of France and Navarre, mounted on a baton of ivory and gold, which was mentioned in the will of Queen Jeanne d'Evreux in the year 1372; and another esmouchoir was named in the inventory of Charles V. in 1300, which proves that it was then an object precious as rare. In Italy, from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, not only the women, but also the men made use of fans, which were formed of tufts of feathers mounted on handles of gold, silver, or ivory, enriched with precious stones. These plumes were mostly either ostrich or peacock feathers, but sometimes they were from the black raven of India, the paroquet, and other birds of brilliant plumage. The ladies fastened these splendid fans to the gold chain which served them for a girdle, whilst the men suspended them from their sword-belts.

Catherine de Medicis brought the fash ion of this fan to the French court; and the Italian fans sold by the perfumers who formed part of her train were bought up with avidity by the Parisian dames, notwithstanding that their cost was extravagantly high.

It is mentioned in the Memoirs of Brantome, "that Queen Margaret gave to Queen Louise of Lorraine a fan made of mother-of-pearl, so beautiful and so rich that it was said to be a masterpiece of art, and must have cost over twelve hundred crowns."

Now twelve hundred crowns is above twenty-five thousand francs of the present French money.

Henry III. was scarcely ever without his fan, and consequently all the lords of the court followed his example; but in the reign of Henri Quatre, the fan fell into the hands of the ladies, never more in France to be resumed by the men.

In England, during the time of Queen Elizabeth, the fan cost an immense sum of money. The Queen received one as a New Year's gift made of ostrich feathers, the handle of which was incrusted with diamonds. This fan is preserved with great care as an historical curiosity. But if it is rich in its workmanship, in its design it wants elegance.

From the time of Henri Quatre the fan became of such general use in France, and the fabrication of it proved so profitable that five or six companies wished to engross the manufacture of it entirely. A judgment delivered on this point in 1664 put an end to their pretensions. The King was thereupon appealed to, and Louis XIV. published an edict by which the master gilders on copper, to the number of sixty, were constituted a corporation and were alone to exercise the trade of fan-making. It was the rule of monopoly; but in 1753 the number of fanmakers was doubled. Soon they amounted to 150.

From this time we may date the decrease in the price of fans-for example, one might be procured for fifteen deniers (a denier being a French coin worth the twelfth part of a French penny). All the skill and care, however, of the fabricators was bestowed upon the high priced fans alone-the others were totally neglected. Thus, the most celebrated artists of that epoch did not disdain to give their works to be mounted as fans; and Boucher, Watteau, and other masters of those days, painted upon those fragile leaves whose magnificent mounting were labored with such exquisite skill as almost to rival the masterpieces which they held.

The fans which date from the reign of Louis XV. are most sought for at the present day; but there are a great many of them, said to be manufactured at that time, whose origin is doubtful. As to