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even
occasionally on the shores of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. From time
immemorial pieces of amber have been cast upon the shore in these
localities, and their collection and sale has afforded a livelihood to
coast-dwellers. Such amber is called sea stone, or sea amber, and is
superior to that obtained by mining, since it is usually of uniform
quality, and not discolored and altered on the surface. Owing to its
lightness, the amber is often found entangled in seaweed, and the
collectors are accustomed to draw in masses of seaweed and search them
for amber. Amber so obtained is called scoopstone, nets being sometimes
used to gather in the seaweed. In the marshy regions men on horseback,
called amber riders, follow the outgoing tide and search for the yellow
gum. It is also searched for by divers to some extent. From the
earliest times the title to this amber has vested in the State, and its
collecting has been done either under State control, or as at present,
when a tax is levied by the government upon it. This tax is levied on
the amber that is mined, as well as that obtained from the sea, and
brings a revenue at the present time of about $200,000.
Up
to 1860 the methods of procuring amber were largely confined to
obtaining it in the manner above noted. As it was evident, however,
that the sea amber came from strata underneath, and that if either by
dredging or mining these strata could be reached a much larger supply
.could be obtained, exploration was carried on by mining methods with
successful results, and the principal amount of the amber of commerce
is now so obtained. The strata, as shown in the mines of Sammland, the
rectangular peninsula of East Prussia, where most of the mining is
carried on, are: First, a bed of sand; below this a layer of lignite
with sand and clay; and following this a stratum of green sand, fifty
or sixty feet in thickness. While all these strata contain scattered
pieces of amber, it is at the bottom of the green sand layer that the
amber chiefly occurs, in a stratum four or five feet thick, and of vgry
dark color. It is called the " blue earth." This stratum is of Tertiary
age, and there can be no doubt that its amber represents gum fallen
from pines, which grew at this period, and whose woody remains are
represented to some extent in the layer of lignite. It is probably
true, as Zaddach remarks, that the amber has been collected here from
older deposits. One of the most interesting proofs of the vegetable
origin of amber is the occurrence in it of insects, sometimes with a
leg or wing separated a little distance from the body, showing that it
had struggled to escape. These insects include spiders, flies, ants,
and beetles, and even the feather of a bird has been found thus
preserved. Indeed, the amber deposits have furnished important contributions to our knowl-
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