that there were originally seven books of Tangrams, compiled in
China two thousand years before the Christian era. These books are so
rare that, after forty years' residence in the country, he only
succeeded in seeing perfect copies of the first and seventh volumes with
fragments of the second. Portions of one of the books, printed in gold
leaf upon parchment, were found in Peking by an English soldier and sold
for three hundred pounds.

A few years ago a little book came into my possession, from the library
of the late Lewis Carroll, entitled _The Fashionable Chinese Puzzle_. It
contains three hundred and twenty-three Tangram designs, mostly
nondescript geometrical figures, to be constructed from the seven
pieces. It was "Published by J. and E. Wallis, 42 Skinner Street, and J.
Wallis, Jun., Marine Library, Sidmouth" (South Devon). There is no date,
but the following note fixes the time of publication pretty closely:
"This ingenious contrivance has for some time past been the favourite
amusement of the ex-Emperor Napoleon, who, being now in a debilitated
state and living very retired, passes many hours a day in thus
exercising his patience and ingenuity." The reader will find, as did the
great exile, that much amusement, not wholly uninstructive, may be
derived from forming the designs of others. He will find many of the
illustrations to this article quite easy to build up, and some rather
difficult. Every picture may thus be regarded as a puzzle.

But it is another pastime altogether to create new and original designs
of a pictorial character, and it is surprising what extraordinary scope
the Tangrams afford for producing pictures of real life--angular and
often grotesque, it is true, but full of character. I give an example of
a recumbent figure (2) that is particularly graceful, and only needs
some slight reduction of its angularities to produce an entirely
satisfactory outline.

As I have referred to the author of _Alice in Wonderland_, I give also
my designs of the March Hare (3) and the Hatter (4). I also give an
attempt at Napoleon (5), and a very excellent Red Indian with his Squaw
by Mr. Loyd (6 and 7). A large number of other designs will be found in
an article by me in _The Strand Magazine_ for November, 1908.

[Illustration: 2]

[Illustration: 3]

[Illustration: 4]

On the appearance of this magazine article, the late Sir James Murray,
the eminent philologist, tried, with that amazing industry that