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74 IDEAL HOME LIFE
made of thin pieces of ivory cut into different forms, some being like spears, others saws, boat hooks, etc.; of some of the patterns there are duplicates, while of others only one. Each pattern has a value assigned to it, the lowest being five, and the , highest forty; the numbers do not run in regular succession— as five, six, seven, eight—but irregularly, as five, sixteen, twenty-five. Hooks, made of bone, are employed instead of pointers.
The Cutwater
The Cutwater is a circular piece of sheet lead, or tin, notched like a saw round the edge, and having two holes pierced in it at some distance from each other, through which is passed a piece of string, the two ends being afterward tied together. To set the cutwater in action the doubled string must be alternately pulled and slackened. Every time the string is relaxed the disk revolves in consequence of the impetus it has acquired from the previous pull, and every time the string is tightened it whirls round in an opposite direction, as the doubled string is then untwisted. If the edge of this toy be dipped in water, it may be made to sprinkle the bystanders and the player, hence its name of " Cutwater." |
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