MISCELLANEOUS.
PRECIOUS STONES OF PERU AND BOLIVIA.
The exploration by Dr. G. F. Bandelier of the tombs of the Incas and other graves in Peru and the Bolivian region has naturally been of great interest. Doctor Bandelier, whose work in anthropology in the Southwest and Mexico well equipped him for such an exploration and who belongs to the anthropological staff of the American Museum of Natural History, had every facility extended to him in his exploration, which has resulted in great collections of textiles and of all manner of objects used by the ancient Peruvians, so that this collection of the American Museum of Natural History is now one of the most complete known. Doctor Bandelier gives his observations on the occurrence of precious stones and gem minerals as a result of some eight years of investigation. These are of much value in connection with the statements that have appeared for four centuries touching this interesting region.
Antonio Raimondi, the noted Italian naturalist, to whpse labors Peru is so much indebted, nowhere in his numerous treatises mentions the presence of gems in Peru or in northern and central Bolivia. During thirteen years of residence in Peru and upper Bolivia Doctor Bandelier could not find any authentic account of the location of any gem of practical value in either of the republics named.
With the interest for mining in Bolivia that has recently been awakened outside of its territorial limits, and particularly among North American prospectors, it is to be expected that discoveries of minerals which are considered precious when in a state of sufficient purity will sooner or later be made; but up to the time of Doctor Bandelier's investigation there had been no authentic finds of either diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, topazes, almandines, or zircons. The following are the stones of which Doctor Bandelier heard from reliable sources or that h'e actually saw:
Amethysts. These occur in southern Bolivia, in the districts of Tarija and Tupiza.
Garnet. A number of well crystallized and very characteristic specimens of melanite from the province of Inquisivi in the southern portions of the department of La Paz were seen, but while the species was unmistakable, the crystals were opaque and without any value commercially.
Tourmaline. The common black variety accompaming cassiterite occurs near La Paz.
From southern Bolivia and from the vicinity of its former capital, Sucre, rubies and almandines are reported to appear in the sands of rivers. Diamonds are thought to exist, accompanying gold in the Tipuani gold district on the eastern slope of the Cordilleras. There is
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