by piece-work, and sixty master workmen are required to make a single watch. The work is divided among so many different persons, each one of whom makes a specialty of one particular piece, and spends his life making duplicates of this. The work is performed in the people’s houses, the fronts of which present an uninterrupted row of windows arranged without intermediate spaces, as the object is to admit all the light possible. Every member of the family assists in some way. When the house is put to rights, the wife drags a table to the window, gets out her magnifying-glass, and goes to work on a watch-spring.[77] If there be a son or daughter, each produces his quota. These different parts, when gathered up by the watch merchant, are found to fit each its special place with mathematical niceness. The Swiss federal custom-house returns classify all imports and exports under three chief heads, viz., “live-stock,” “_ad valorem_ goods,” and “goods taxed per quintal.” No returns are published of the value of either the imports or exports, but only the quantities are given. The principal imports are grain and flour, cattle for slaughter, sugar, coffee, fruit, poultry, eggs, and wine; all being articles of food. Of textile stuffs, silk, cotton, and woollen. Other articles include chemicals for industrial purposes, leather and leather goods, hosiery and ready-made clothes, iron and iron ware, live animals, coal and coke, other metals and hardware, including machinery, wood, furniture, petroleum, gold and silver bullion for coinage. Cattle, horses, wheat, and flour are imported from Austria-Hungary; raw cotton from the United States and Egypt; manufactured cotton goods from England; wool chiefly from Germany; coal from the Rhine districts of Germany. The principal exports are: textile products, watches and jewelry, cheese and condensed milk, wine and beer, machinery, cattle, hides and skins, dye-stuffs, furniture and wood carvings. The Swiss tradesmen are shrewd in their bargains, honest in their reckonings, contented with small gains and small savings. They are the Scotch of continental Europe.