They are of several kinds. Some are of boards all ready to be sold, others of round timber, just cut; another kind is of squared logs, and a fourth of both logs and boards. As the Elbe is not a rapid river, the unaided progress of a raft is very slow. So each man on it has a pole with an iron point on one end, while the other end fits to the shoulder; and the men pole along most of the time. To each end of the raft there are fastened three or four oars about twenty feet long; and with these they steer. The Elbe is so shallow that in the summer time boys walk through it; but in the spring the snow melting in the mountains at the river's source (Bohemia) makes freshets which carry off animals, boards, planks and sometimes houses. Under the arch-ways of the bridge at Dresden during these freshets, there are suspended large nets, two corners of each of which are fastened to the railing of the bridge, the lower side is heavily weighted and dropped, and so the net catches anything which comes down the stream.--Yours respectfully, FRANK BERGH TAYLOR. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I wish that you would tell me how to make skeleton leaves. I have seen some done just lovely, and so I think that I should like to try--even if I don't succeed--to make some myself. I am going to the country this summer to stay quite a long time, and so I shall have a chance to get a great many different kinds of leaves.--Your constant reader, IRENE C. W. Irene's question is answered in Volume III. of ST. NICHOLAS, pages 115 and 116,--the number for December, 1875. THE VOYAGES AND ADVENTURES OF VASCO DA GAMA. By George M. Towle. Eight Full-page Illustrations. Published by Lee & Shepard, Boston. In 294 pages of clear type this book gives a cleverly condensed account of the most interesting events in the life of Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese navigator who first found the way from Europe to India around the Cape of Good Hope. His daring nobility of character and true and exciting adventures are presented in such a way as to delight boys and girls, and yet the romance that cannot be taken from the story is not allowed to interfere with historical truth. As the first of a series entitled "Heroes of History," this volume makes a good start in a pleasant and fruitful field. THE RIDDLE-BOX. DOUBLE ACROSTIC. The initials and finals name a flower. 1. A fruit. 2. A Shakspearean character. 3. A neck of land. 4. A spice. ISOLA. NUMERICAL ENIGMA. It was 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 to the teacher's 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 me to go home early, that I escaped the shower. C. D. PICTORIAL TRANSPOSITION PUZZLES. Find for each picture a word, or words, that will correctly describe it, and then transpose the letters of the descriptive word so as to form another word, which will answer to the definition given below the picture. B. [Illustration: 1. Aromatic kernels of a much used kind.] [Illustration: 2. Sovereigns.] DIAMOND PUZZLE.