254 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES
most probable tbat ceremonial and religious considerations gave rise to the custom.
One
of the largest masses of sculptured Chinese jade is in the collection
of T. B. Walker, Esq., of Minneapolis. This shows a jade mountain, with
groups of figures artistically placed at its base, and winding
pathways up to its summit. On the face of the rock is inscribed in
beautiful Chinese characters the Epidendron Pavilion Essay of Wang
Hi-che, a masterpiece of Chinese calligraphy.
An
enormous mass of New Zealand jade (punamu, "green stone") weighing 7000
pounds, found in South Island in 1902, is to be seen in the Museum of
Natural History, New York; it was secured by the writer and was donated
to the Museum by the late J. Pierpont Morgan. This is the largest mass
of jade known, or of which we have any record. On it is placed a
remarkable and, in its own peculiar way, an artistic decoration,
serving as a type of old Maori life, and at the same time designating
the geographic source of the jade in a striking and unmistakable
manner calculated to appeal to the least intelligent visitor. This is
a statue of a Maori warrior of the old days, executing a war dance,
characteristics of which were a distortion of the features and a
thrusting out of the tongue intended to express defiance and contempt
of the enemy ; the time or cadence of the dance was marked by slapping
the thigh with the flat of the left hand. This figure was executed from
life by Sigurd Neandross; indeed it was actually cast from the model,
so that there can be no doubt as to its fidelity.
Rock-crystal
is included among the various objects used as fetiches by the Cherokee
Indians. This stone is believed to have great power to give aid in
hunting and also in divining. One owner of such a crystal kept his
magic stone wrapped up in buckskin and hid it in a sacred cave ; at
stated intervals he would take it out of its re-
