The
amazzonite is absolutely opaque ; unlike the jade, it takes a very
bright polish ; its colour is a beautiful pear green, and fixing the
eye on it, the longer it is looked at the brighter and more beautiful
it appears. Its material is compact; no pores are visible in it : it
is, however, covered with very minute marks, in the form of little
straws, which are of a lighter green. When it is grey-green, the marks
are of a greenish-white ; and when the ground is of a darker green, the
marks or points are very close to each other, and of a darker shade,
although always to be clearly distinguished on the ground colour.
They are found in both East and West ; in Siberia as well as in America.
There are veins of it on the Eussian frontier of Mount Ouralska ; and the mineralogists of that country call it Krim-spath, that
is, green-spar ; which name is more suited to the substance than that
of " stone of the Amazons," or amazzonite, as this name was not the
result of scientific examination, but given because the stone was found
at a short distance from the Eiver Marafion, or Amazon, near the savage
American tribe of Eupinambas. ,
It
was known to the ancients, who procured it from the East ; but we are
not certain by what name they particularised it. Caire speaks of a
beautiful antique vase, made entirely of this stone, and which he saw
in Florence.
This gem, which is easily engraved, can be used with fine effect in every sort of precious ornament.
