July, 1913. Notes on Turquois, 71 



of Tokyo. Under the name Karafuto-tama, that is, jewels of the Island of Saghalin, 

 the precious stone par excellence of Saghalin and the Kuriles is understood, made into 

 the necklaces called shitogi. They are well polished lustrous balls of blue or bluish 

 color, but less dark than the ruri-tama. They are the product, adds Geerts, of 

 dark blue obsidian varying much in size; they belong, as the preceding stone, to a 

 period posterior to the maga-tama and still serve as ornaments to the natives of the 

 Kuriles. It is more than likely that the ruri-tama and Karafuto-tama are identical, 

 and that the material in question is obsidian. Obsidian, as well known, is not a 

 mineral proper but a natural glass, a black vitreous volcanic rock being produced 

 where a rapid cooling of certain liquid lavas has taken place and occurring in many 

 parts of the world, the coloration being black, gray, brown, yellow, red, green, some- 

 times also blue. A peculiar variety is known to our mineralogists from the river 

 Marekanka near Okhotsk in eastern Siberia, hence called marekanite; these obsidian 

 balls are partly colored evenly, partly of brown and gray, frequently also of yellow 

 and red hues (Max Bauer, Edelsteinkunde, p. 551). O. C. Farrington (Gems and 

 Gem Minerals, p. 181) gives for it also the name "mountain mahogany," and says 

 that it makes a pretty stone, which is used for the manufacture of some objects. 

 This material is doubtless the source for the precious beads of Saghalin, and the 

 Kuriles. Nothing is known to Japanese or foreign mineralogists of lapis lazuli found 

 on the Kuriles, and the definition of Geerts must be considered an error. In the 

 Ainu collection of the Field Museum there is a necklace (Cat. No. 88037) coming 

 from Hakodate on Yezo, in which are strung six large, black obsidian balls (about 3 

 cm in diameter), together with many blue, green and white glass beads. J. Batche- 

 LOR (The Ainu and Their Folk-lore, p. 154, London, 1901) states that the glass beads 

 of which the Ainu women are extremely fond are of Japanese make, others appear to 

 have come from China; the people believe that the ancients got them from the 

 Rushikai, that is, Russians and Manchu. In the Annals of the Later Han Dynasty 

 {Hou Han shu, Ch. 115, pp. 5a, 5b) the countries of the'Fu-yu (see above) and the 

 Yi-lou who lived over 1000 li north-east of the Fu-yu are reported to produce "red 

 jade " {ch'i yu). Also in this case, the word yii cannot be construed to have the literal 

 meaning of "jade," as no jade is found in those localities which were inhabited by the 

 Fu-yii and Yi-lou, and I am inclined to regard the term ch'i yii as having likewise the 

 significance of obsidian. The evidence for this supposition is furnished by the Tu 

 yangtsa pien (Ch. C, P- i) in the passage above alluded to. In the tribute sent by the 

 Fu-yii in 841 A. D. to Emperor Wu-tsung there were three pecks of "volcanic jade" 

 {huo yii san tou), which was red {ch'i) in color. The pieces were half an inch long, 

 pointed on top, and round below; they emitted their brilliancy at a distance of ten 

 paces. Gathered in a cauldron they could be ignited, and the heat of such a cauldron 

 placed in the house was sufficient to dispense with double quilted garments [which the 

 Chinese use to wear in the winter, heating their bodies instead of their rooms]. The 

 court-ladies of inferior rank availed themselves of this fire to heat a brand of wine 

 called "clear wine " which had been sent as the gift of a foreign country. There can 

 be no doubt of the identification of the term huo yii with obsidian; this expression 

 literally means "fire jade," and "fire mountain" {huo shan) is the Chinese word for a 

 volcano; huo yii, accordingly, is a fino stone of volcanic origin, and such a product of 

 volcanic outflows is obsidian. The account of this substance being utilized as a 

 combustible is quite credible, for obsidian "fuses rather easily before the blowpipe 

 to a porous, gray mass" (O. C. Farrington, I.e., p. 180). This "fire jade" was red 

 in color; accordingly, it was a ch'i yii, and this is the very designation which we en- 

 counter in the Annals of the Later Han Dynasty. For this reason we may conclude 

 that the term chH yii, as pointed out in the above passage, serves for the designation 

 of obsidian which itself was unknown in China. 



