26 THE MAGIC OF JEWELS AND CHARMS
and have thus appealed as well to those who were superstitious as to those who appreciated things beautiful in themselves.
In
Yucatan quartz crystals were not only used for divining, but also to
ensure the success of the crops. The fact that such crystals have been
found in the Indian mounds of Arkansas, North Carolina, and elsewhere,
may warrant the supposition that they had been worn as talismans and
then interred with the deceased persons as a most intimate part of
their property. The writer's personal observation in Garland and
Montgomery counties, Arkansas, demonstrated that quartz crystals were
to be found in mounds together with chipped arrow-points of chalcedony,
although the crystals did not appear to have been worked in any way.
The region about Hot Springs, Arkansas, has furnished some of the
finest rock-crystal found in the United States. From North Carolina
also have come many remarkable specimens, the largest of which, found
in 1886, was unluckily broken up by the person who discovered it. In
its crystal state it must have weighed about 300 pounds, and if cut
would have furnished a crystal ball 4-1/2 or 5 inches in
diameter. This splendid crystal came from Phoenix Mountain, Chestnut
Hill township, in Ashe County, North Carolina, and from the largest
fragment recovered, weighing 51 pounds, several slabs 8 inches square
and from half inch to one inch in thickness were cut. Nearby a crystal
weighing 285 pounds was found, and another weighing 188 pounds. Some of
the crystals from this locality had on one side a green coating of
chlorite, and when this was not removed, the effect was as though one
saw a green moss growing beneath a pool of water. The rock-crystal
slabs have an advantage over glass when used for mirrors, as they more
truly reflect the lints of a fine complexion. Brilliant crystals from
Lake George and its neighborhood have been called "Lake George
