a
transparent glass containing bubbles or blisters. A variety that is
dark green verging on black is termed chloromelanite. Weapons and
ornaments carved in jadeite in prehistoric times are found on every
continent. But few of the localities from whence the mineral came that
supplied raw material for these unnamed artisans and artists, are
known; the most important is in the vicinity of Mogoung in Upper
Burma, where it occurs in boulders embedded in a reddish-yellow clay in
river valleys. The jadeite miners crack the boulders by heating, and
the pieces found of merchantable quality are either sawed into the
required shapes by slender steel saws, kept tense by bamboo bows, or
sold as found to traders who come in caravans from China. The mineral
here found is thus distributed throughout the Chinese Empire. Jadeite
of milk-white colour is most highly prized and that with bright green
spots is next in favour. Dr. Max Bauer states that he saw a piece of
less than three cubic feet which sold for |50,000.
Nephrite occurs in gneiss and amphibole schists in the Karakash Valley in the Kuen Lun Mountains, Turkestan, and this is now an
important source of supply; these mines have 10
