Precious Gem stones production in 1887 Page 33



	576	MINERAL RESOURCES.

	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,