mens found at the Jenks mine, some of them weighing two
carats, about one-half were of good color and possessed the characteristics of true gems, though none had a " higher value than,
possibly, one hundred dollars." The other principal localities
for sapphires in the United States, remarks this writer, are
in the region near Helena, Montana, where they occur in
sand collected in the sluice-boxes, during the process of
mining for gold. The gems from this locality present quite
a variety of colors, and are frequently dichroic, often blue
in one direction and red in another, or blue and light green.
Perfect gems are frequently met with weighing from four to
nine carats. The value of the stones from this district reaches,
at least, two thousand dollars per annum.
He mentions an interesting jewel belonging to Messrs.
Tiffany and Company, made of these dichroic gems in the form
of a crescent, which displays at one end red stones, and at
the other blue, while the centre is composed of those affording
different shades of bluish red. The entire crescent becomes
red under artificial light.
The gem varieties of the corundum have always been regarded as the most valuable among precious stones by oriental
nations, as they are at the present time by western races,
unless the diamond be excepted. Of all the ornamental stones,
the sapphire was the most highly esteemed by the ancients.
It was the "gem of gems," the sacred stone par excellence,
and the one most frequently consecrated to their divinities.
The author of the Pentateuch, in describing the manifestation
of Jehovah to the people of Israel, says : " There was under
his feet, as it were, a paved work of sapphire stones, and, as it
were, the body of heaven in his clearness." The sapphire
mentioned in this quotation corresponds to the modern gem
bearing that name, in its color and clearness (transparency),
