will carry them.

It is very strange to see even the smallest cottages fitted with
electric light, but this is the case in one village, Marroggia. A clever
German has set up some works close by, and drives the machinery by power
derived from a beautiful waterfall near the village.

From Marroggia a young Italian went to London some years ago to seek his
fortune. He succeeded so well that he soon became rich. Returning to his
native village, he built there a beautiful villa, with gardens and lawns
sloping down to the lake. When it was finished he gave a feast to all
the villagers. Thousands of fairy lamps and Chinese lanterns were sent
for from London to illuminate the gardens, and turn them for the
occasion into fairyland. The peasants had never before seen anything
like it. They danced, they sang, and ate the good things provided for
them. They would willingly have lingered there all night, and it was
only when the last lamp flickered and went out that they returned home
to dream of what they had enjoyed.

At one end of the lake stands Monte Generoso. The top is reached by a
mountain railway, which zig-zags its way up through the woods. It feels
very strange as the engine goes up panting and puffing, turning a sharp
corner at every few yards; but the view from the summit is very fine,
and the journey down still more exciting than the ascent.

At the other end of the lake is a famous china and earthenware
manufactory. You can reach it by steamboat, but it is much better fun to
go in a small boat, where you can lie under the awning and watch the
boatman, in his white shirt-sleeves and coloured velvet waistcoat,
steering his boat like the gondoliers of Venice.

The china manufactory is old-fashioned, but very interesting. The
potter's wheel is still used there, and it is wonderful to see the ease
and quickness with which a lump of clay is made into a cup, a saucer, a
vase, or any other article you may ask for. After it is taken off the
wheel, it is dipped into liquid glaze, then ornamented with some design
transferred from coloured paper, and finally fired in the furnace.

Most people who visit the Italian lakes go on to Milan, a very
important, busy town. On the way you pass through large tracts of
country covered with maize and rice fields. The maize grows to an
enormous height, and the rice is watered artificially by tiny streams,
which may be seen trickling through the fields in all directions.

ELAINE CARRUTHE