the bad shades

the beautiful the bad, represents loyalty; the defects under the surface, yet apparent, represent sincerity; its luster, like that of the rainbow, represents the firmament; its wonderful material, extracted from the mountains and waters, represents the earth; cut into Kueï or Chu, without other embellishment, it symbolizes virtue, and the price at which all the world values it symbolizes truth."

This passion for jade, the classic or poetic color of which is white in China, causes Chinese writers to use the word figuratively whenever they wish to in

dicate anything very white, very pure, or very perfect. In the language of compliment no word of praise rises above that which likens beauty to jade, and the loftiest thought, as well as the highest morality, are compared to it. References are constantly made to it in poetry, as in the Emperor Kien-lung's

verse

"While the waning moon in the westward hangs like an orb of jade."

The most ancient of the Chinese classical books, the Shu King, or Book of Historical Documents, relating to the period B. C. 2357 to 627, mentions jade

By

as one of the articles of tribute of the Province of Yung Kan, which embraced nearly all the present provinces of Shenhsi and Kan-su, and extended indefinitely northward to the desert.

Loose boulders of jade are often carried down by the force of the current in the Karakash and tributary streams, and they eventually become embedded in the soft clay banks or are deposited in the bed of the river. This "water jade" is highly valued by the Chinese carvers, as its rough journey is a severe test of hidden flaws, which might otherwise cause the block to fall to pieces after much labor has already been ex.

It is an old saying with the Chinese that "jadestone comes from the Kuenlun Mountains, in the Province of Khotan," and in the history of the T'ang Dynasty (618-906) reference is made to a yearly tribute of 500 pieces of jade sent to the Emperor by the king of that region. Travelers describe the jade quarries as situated on the south face of the Kuenlun Mountains, in the main valley of the upper part of the Karakash River, south of the city of Khotan. They extend for a mile or more in length, and in this space are the entrances of at least a hundred tunnels which riddle the mountain side in every direction, and in some cases pierce through the mountain to the further side. The mineral is found in veins of varying thickness, in width from a few inches to ten feet, but so seamed and cracked as to make it difficult to find a piece even a few inches thick which is not badly flawed. Until the middle of the last century China maintained her authority over eastern Turkestan, including Yarkand and Khotan. The people, however, were Mohammedan, and in 1852 they succeeded in throwing off the Chinese yoke by a general uprising, in which all the officials were massacred. The jade workers, who were Chinese, probably fled from the quarries at this time and shared the fate of their countrymen. Their clothing, implements, and remnants of food were left in their haste, and were seen by Cayley when he vis ited the quarries in 1871. Work has since been resumed, but too many of the expert carvers and workmen were killed during the rebellion for the industry to recover its former preeminence.

pended on it. It is obtained either by digging the boulders out of the banks or by divers specially trained for the work. An inspector always accompanies these diving parties, whose duty it is to mark each lump as it is brought up, estimate its value, and finally ship the jade to Peking. Such pieces bring three times the price of quarried specimens of similar size and color.

In many rivers of eastern Turkestan jade pebbles are found in abundance. The word "kash," so often found in the names of rivers and places in this region, means "jade" in Toorkee, and there seems little reason to doubt the

existence of the mineral along the whole of the Kuenlun range. Much difficulty is experienced in tracing the veins, owing to the shifting sands.

A huge dike of nephrite embedded in the rocky banks of the Raskemdaria, on the eastern slope of the Pamir, was another source from which the Chinese formerly drew large supplies of jade. They extracted it by lighting large fires on the rock and then throwing water on it when it became thoroughly heated. The rock was abandoned some years ago in consequence, it is said, of the illness of a member of the Imperial family, who was taken sick after having slept on a bed made of Raskem nephrite. A large block of the stone which was then on its way to Peking was put in chains and thrown on the roadside at Kutcha, where it still remains. It was from this ridge on the Raskemdaria that the monolithic tombstone of Tamerlane was cut. famous tomb of darkest - green jade stands in a half-ruined mosque at Samarkand, and is 7 feet 8 inches long, 17 inches wide, 14 inches high, and weighs about 1,800 pounds. It is broken through the middle, but is well polished, completely covered with inscriptions, and rests on a white marble base. In addition to this and the Karakash quarries, the Chinese also obtained jade from deposits in Yun-nan, Kan-su, Shen-se and Quang-se, and other provinces of China. Many mines throughout China are owned by private individuals, who keep the existence of their quarries secret, fearing the extortions of the government.

This

Jade has also been found in fair abundance on the shores of Lake Baikal, Siberia. The South Kensington Museum possesses a large, water-worn, well polished boulder from this region, weighing more than half a ton.

The Chinese use the utmost care in

carving jade. The workman having

determined from the natural form of the block, and its visible and probable

flaws, into what object he will carve it, fixes it on a lathe and gives it the general outline. The interior is then hollowed out by first drilling, with diamond-pointed needles, innumerable little holes all over the surface which is to be broken away. When this is completely honeycombed the partitions are broken down by being sharply tapped with a hammer. Too hard a tap might develop some hidden flaw and shatter the half-finished object. The piece is finally polished with corundum. The harder the stone and the more difficult the cutting, the more brilliant the polish it is capable of acquiring. It is claimed the jade is softer when freshly taken from the quarries. So great is the difficulty of carving jade that an elaborate piece may represent a lifetime's labor. In Kienlung's ateliers, in the Summer Palace at Peking, the workmen succeeded each other without interruption night and day. Even then many years were occupied in completing a single piece.

Jade is becoming more and more appreciated as a material for interior decorative construction by the splendorloving Russians. loving Russians. By cutting the stone into sections an eighth of an inch thick it is employed for the panelling of walls. and chimney pieces, and even window panes the translucent pieces showing the most exquisite shading and clouding.

European and American collections owe many of their finest specimens to the plunder taken from the Summer Palace in Peking in 1860, when the enormous collections of the Emperor of China were at the mercy of the French and British forces, who were ordered to burn and destroy all the buildings. The palace ateliers, having long been declining in activity and in the quality of their productions, had in a measure ceased jade-cutting a few years previous to the sacking of the Summer Palace, because the tribute of jade from the

Turkestan mines did not come to Peking during the Mohammedan rebellion. The imperial ateliers have not been maintained since 1860, but the treasures of jade again gathered at the Sum mer Palace were promptly sold or sent home by the Russian, English, and Italian troops, who in turn occupied that demesne in 1900 and 1901. Winter Palace, the temples within the imperial inclosure, and the princes' palaces, in Peking, yielded up an enormous treasure of jade in 1900, nearly all of which has found its way since to Europe and America.

The

The uses to which jade has been put by the Chinese are almost endless. Discs of the stone, which when struck give forth a clear, resonant note, are used as temple gongs and musical instruments. Ritual vessels are made of it, and it is to this fact that Paléologue attributes the peculiar veneration in which the Chinese hold the stone. Tablets inscribed with sacred writings, bowls and vases of fantastic form and intricate design, statuettes of Buddha, perfect alike in conception and execution, candelabra, boxes, pencil-holders and all the paraphernalia of the writing-table, as well as buckles, bracelets, rings, hooks, buttons, and other ornaments, are all wrought with untiring patience and matchless skill from the same intractable material. Carved works of jade seldom bear any marks such as are seen on porcelain, whereby a date is indicated. Sometimes objects are inscribed with a poem or quotation, which may afford some clue to the date. All such marks are comparatively rare, and the style of ornamentation is generally the only guide. Extreme simplicity of design and purity of form characterize the earliest examples, while those of later periods are often marvels of fantastic and ornate decoration.

The Chinese rarely embellish their jade carvings with other substances, possibly owing to their excessive admi

ration for the stone and the symbolism with which they surrounded it. The Hindus saw in jade, however, only a green background for encrustations of many-tinted gems and gold. It afforded them opportunities for the display of their cunning, as jewelers, to combine the softly shaded tones of the jade with rubies, diamonds, and other stones, as well as scarcely less brilliant enamel. As a material for artistic workmanship, jade was only known in India from the time of the Moguls, who encouraged its employment unstintingly. The arts of carving in frost-like open-work and of inlaying, which found such perfect expression in the Taj Mahal, were lavished in miniature on jade cups, beetle-boxes, sword and dagger hilts, and turban ornaments, for which there was an unfailing demand at court. Work of a less elaborate character was sometimes executed, and a large jadeite tortoise found in a water-tank at Allahabad is now in the South Kensington Museum. It is bluish gray in color, highly polished, and nearly 20 inches long. Although mines of jadeite exist in Burma, the Hindus probably drew the greater part of their supply from central Asia, and much of that now sold by them as Yarkand jade is only chloromelanite and serpentine.

When Captain Cook visited the middle island of New Zealand the natives told him it was called Te Wahi Pounanu, or "the place of the green stone," because all of their much-valued green stones came from that island. In old atlases the island is still called Tavai Poenammo, a corruption of the native name. The natives, like the primitive inhabitants of Europe, fashioned weapons called "Meri" from the coarser varieties. Like the celts of the Lakedwellers, too, many of their implements show traces of having been formed by sawing. There is a large block of New Zealand jade in the British Museum re

taining the cutter's grooves, and the New York Museum of Natural History contains a similar piece from a primitive Alaskan workshop. Of the finer and more translucent specimens of jade the New Zealanders carved their "tiki." These objects were worn about the neck, and are said by some to have been title deeds of land, as well as venerated charms and symbols of ancestor worship. There is a grotesque figure of New Zealand jade in the British Museum which was evidently carved with much care. The eyes are inlaid in mother-of-pearl.

Jade implements, chiefly celts, have been found along the entire coast of British Columbia and Alaska from the Straits of Fuca to the Arctic Sea, and arrow-heads have been brought from the Arctic coast of both Alaska and Siberia. Such stone implements were highly valued by the Indians, who in some cases still preserve them, although they no longer use them. The majority of jade celts which owe their origin to this region have been discovered in Indian graves, in shell heaps, and on the sites of former villages. Whether the jade thus employed was brought from Asia or found on the spot was for a long time an open question. The discovery of the mineral in situ in the vicinity of the Fraser River and in rolled pieces on the Lewes branch of the Yukon has placed its origin beyond dispute.

Jade was known to the Aztecs as the "divine stone," and was valued next to the emerald, with which it was often confused by the early Spaniards. As a religious symbol, it was placed on the altars. It was carved by the Aztecs in the form of parrots' heads, fish, etc., and worn as a charm against kidney troubles and epilepsy. This superstitious esteem for the medicinal qualities of the stone was carried to Europe by the Spaniards, and at one time there existed jade merchants in Paris who sold medals of jade as a remedy for these diseases. The Aztecs also carved

masks from jade, which were used in the temples to cover the face of the most illustrious of the gods when the King fell ill. They did not remove them until the recovery or death of the patient. At other times these masks served as a decoration of the temple walls.

In Central and South America similar uses for jade and jade-like stones obtained, and, as in every other quarter of the globe where the stone was known and used, it was held in an esteem amounting, in many cases, to actual

reverence.

Collections of jade are found in nearly all the great museums of Europe, perhaps the most notable being that of the South Kensington Museum, which possesses superb examples of the jewelinlaid Indian jade. The specimens in the British Museum are valuable chiefly from a mineralogical and archæological point of view. A number of choice pieces are owned by the Musée Ethnographique in the Louvre and the Musée Guimet, in Paris. The Musée Chinois. at Fontainebleau owes its fine collection of jade to the gifts of French officers to the Empress Eugenie after their return from the campaign in China in 1860. Jade objects which have been presented to the imperial family of Russia are exhibited in the Peter the Great Gallery at St Petersburg. Among the treasures of the Sultan in the old Seraglio at Constantinople are many sword hilts and other small objects of jade.

Although these museums contain many individually fine specimens of jade, no one of them possesses a truly complete collection. American collectors of Orientals have long shown their appreciation of the beauty of jade objects, and the collections of Messrs Brayton Ives, Henry Walters, Thomas Waggaman, and Frederick Ames contain many unique and perfect examples of the jade carver's art. It was left for an American, Mr Heber Bishop, of New