affording
a sharp contrast with the reddish brown matrix, which admits of a high
polish and breaks with a conchoidal fracture. Many of these stones are
exceedingly brilliant. They are of the variety known as harlequin
opals, their color being somewhat yellow as compared with the Hungarian
stone, although not less brilliant. The rich ultramarine blue opal is
quite peculiar to this locality, and the green variety almost
transcends the Hungarian. A company capitalized at £200,000 has been
formed, and the gems are extensively mined. Many curious little
cameo-like objects, such as faces, dogs' heads, and the like, are made
by cutting the matrix and the opal together.
Green
beryls, blue and green sapphires, white and bluish topaz, garnets, and
zircons have been found at New England in New South Wales, and precious
opals are obtained from the Abercrombie river.
During
the last ten years the taste for collecting jade and other carved hard
stone objects has greatly increased, especially among Americans, owing
to the stimulus given by the Centennial, Paris and Amsterdam
expositions, and the breaking up by sale of many of the large
collections. The value of carved jades outside of China and India can
not be far from $2,000,000.
In
the United States there are, perhaps, twenty buyers, who have pur.
chased fully $500,000 worth of this material, many of the pieces being
among the finest known, such as the private seal and other objects from
the sacking of theEmperorof China's summer palace. The finest pieces,
brought over by Tienpau, included some of the best that ever left
China, and were intended for the Amsterdam exhibition ; the choicest
•specimens of the Wells, Guthrie, Michael, and Hamilton palace
collections are now owned in the United States. Experienced agents
have been frequently sent to India and China to secure the finest
objects as they presented themselves. One collection alone is worth
over $100,000; single objects sometimes selling for over $5,000, and
one exceptionally fine specimen being valued at over $10,000.
Explorations in Alaska have brought to light the fact that jade was
used by the natives for implements, and it is almost proved that it is
found not only as bowlders but also in situ. The National
Museum, the Emmons, Everett, Peabody Museum, Canadian Geological
Survey, Dresden, and other collections, including the writer's own,
contain several hundred objects, at least, that are made of this
Alaskan material. A fact of interest in this connection is that Prof.
F. W. Clarke found among the objects collected for the National Museum
one which, on analysis, proved to resemble pectolite so closely that he
referred it to that species. It has the hardness of jade, a specific
gravity of 2.873, and is pale green in color. The same discovery was
made almost simultaneously by foreign observers.
The
theory that jadeite or chalchiuitl was highly prized by the aborigines
has been greatly strengthened during the last ten years. Prof. J. J.
Valentine, in his paper before the American Antiquarian Society, April
27, 1881, on the Humboldt celt or votive adze and the Leyden plate,
