tice at the present
day in Italy, especially near Naples, to construct light treillages on
the tops of the houses, where the inhabitants enjoy the evening
breeze, _al fresco_, in the same way as is represented in these
paintings.

The peristyle is small, but in good preservation. Its
inter-columniations are filled up by a dwarf wall painted red, the
lower part of the columns being painted blue. This house runs through
the island from one street to the other. Adjoining it, on the south,
is the custom-house, _telonium_. Here a wide entrance admits us into
an ample chamber, where many scales were found, and among them a
steelyard, _statera_, much resembling those now in use, but more
richly and tastefully ornamented.

[Illustration: SCALES FOUND AT POMPEII.]

Many weights of lead and marble were found here; one with the
inscription, "Eme et habebis" (Buy and you shall have), also scales.
Near the custom-house is a soap manufactory. In the first room were
heaps of lime, the admirable quality of which has excited the wonder
of modern plasterers. In an inner room are the soap-vats, placed on a
level with the ground.

Besides these, the block contains three houses which have been
distinguished by names, the House of Isis and Osiris, the House of
Narcissus, and the House of the Female Dancers. Of these the latter is
remarkable for the beauty of the paintings which adorn its Tuscan
atrium.

Among them are four very elegant figures of female dancers, from which
the name given to the house is taken. Another represents a figure
reposing on the border of a clear lake, surrounded by villas and
palaces, on the bosom of which a flock of ducks and wild-fowl are
swimming. The house of Narcissus is distinguished by the elegance of
its peristyle; the inter-columniations are filled up by a dwarf wall,
which is hollowed at the top, probably to receive earth for the
cultivation of select flowers. Our materials do not admit of a fuller
description of the houses in this quarter.

Passing onwards from the House of Sallust, the next island to the
south, separated from it by a narrow lane, affords nothing remarkable,
except the shop of a baker, to the details of which, in conjunction
with the art of dyeing, we purpose to devote a separate chapter. It is
terminated in a sharp point by the fountain before mentioned. The
disposition of the streets and houses everywhere is most
unsymmetrical, but here it is remarkably so, even for Pompeii