270 PRECIOUS STONES.
in the Urals was in 1830; a second was discovered the following year weighing ten and one-fourth carats; since then they
have been mined to a considerable extent. It is very probable
that the ancient Scythians obtained their supply from these
mountains.
Peru, after the Spanish conquest, supplied these gems for
the European markets until the mines were abandoned for
the more recent fields of New Grenada. This state leased
the gem-producing territories for a certain sum per annum,
until there were no bidders for the privilege, not from any
exhaustion of supply, but in consequence of the diversion of
labor and capital to the gold regions ; consequently, work at
these emerald-mines was suspended for a long period. The
French resumed the mining operations about the middle of
the present century, and since then the best emeralds have
been exported to Paris from New Grenada, where, during the
Empire, they became extremely fashionable, green being the
imperial color.
Emeralds were discovered in North Carolina in 1880,
simultaneously with hiddenite, a variety of spodumene, by Mr.
W. E. Hidden, associated with several other minerals, many of
them constituting gem-stones. The emeralds were found,
after persistent mining, at the depth of more than fifty feet,
in veins or pockets of a rock resembling gneiss ; sometimes
these deposits were very close together, and contained only
emeralds and hiddenite, and sometimes they comprised a
variety of other minerals. The largest emerald crystal
measured eight and one-half inches in length, and weighed
nearly nine ounces. The greatest number found in one
pocket was seventy-two, some of the specimens having a
length from two to five inches, but the larger part were very
small though of the finest tint, resembling the pure deep-
