36 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 



authority on mineralogtcal matters; presumably he refers to the Arabic 

 authors alluded to by Max Bauer (see below). I do not doubt that, as 

 stated by Hirth, turquois is found in modem times in the region of 

 Ferghana, although the evidence which I am able to find is rather slight.^ 

 On the other hand it is asserted by Bauer also that turquois occurs in 

 situ in the region of Samarkand.^ Bauer does not state his source, 

 and I have no means of tracing it; the "unknown time" when the tur- 

 quois mines were operated there is a rather unsatisfactory feature, and 

 it would certainly remain to be proved that turquois was quarried in 

 that region as early as the T'ang period (618-906). But granting the 

 benefit of the doubt to those arguing on the opposite side, the possi- 

 bility should be admitted that in the one passage of the T'ang shu 

 indicated by Hirth and Chavannes the word se-se could denote the 



1 The opinion that turquois occurs in Ferghana is largely based on a remark of 

 H. Lansdell (Russian Central Asia, p. 515, London, 1885) who says that turquois 

 is found at Mount Karumagar, 24 miles N. E. of Khojend; but Lansdell was an 

 amateur traveler of journaHstic tendencies in whose observations little confidence 

 can be placed. The Armenian lapidarium translated into Russian by K. P. Pat-' 

 KANOV (Precious Stones, their Names and Properties according to the Notions of the 

 Armenians, p. 48, St. Petersburg, 1873) mentions Khojend as a source for turquois. 

 On the other hand it should not be passed over with silence that one of the best 

 explorers of Ferghana who has given a detailed description of the region, Ch. E. de 

 UjFALVY (Le Kohistan, le Ferghanah et Kouldja, p. 'Si, Paris, 1878) remarks on its 

 mineral resources as follows: "In the mountains of Ferghana are found iron, lead, 

 charcoal, quartz, kali, amethyst crystals, rock-crystal, silver, mica schist, sulphur, 

 etc. (a cave near Aravan has stalactites and stalagmites). In the district of Andid- 

 jan there are rich sources of naptha of excellent quality, and also sulphurous sources 

 at 38° Celsius." He does not mention turquois. Turquoises are still utilized by the 

 Sart in and around Tashkend for the decoration of silver necklaces, bridles, girdle- 

 clasps, etc. (see, for example, H. Moser, A travers I'Asie centrale, pp. 104-7, Paris, 

 1885). My colleague Dr. Karutz at the Museum of Lubeck, who has traveled ex- 

 tensively in Russian Turkistan, writes me that he encountered two areas in which 

 turquois is diffused, among the Tatars of Russia and among the Sart of Turkistan, 

 but that he did not find it among the Turkmen and the Kirghiz; he therefore con- 

 cludes that it occurs only in the town population, but not among the nomads of the 

 steppe; he learned nothing about indigenous sources of the stone, but is convinced 

 that it is imported from Afghanistan. There is, he says, a rumor to the effect tliat 

 turquois is found in the Kirghiz steppe, but he doubts the fact, as it is not employed 

 by the Kirghiz in their ornaments. 



^ Max Bauer (Precious Stones, p. 396) has the following note on turquois in this 

 region: "It is stated that there are turquois mines, yielding mostly green stones, 

 further to the north-west, beyond the Persian frontier between Herat and western 

 Turkistan. According to the statements of ancient [?] Arabic writers, the precious stone 

 was found at Khojend, from whence came also the green callais {callaina) of Pliny, 

 now considered to be identical with turquois [this is extremely doubtful : note of the 

 writer. On p. 392 Bauer says: "Whether the ancients were acquainted with tur- 

 quois is doubtful."]. Other localities in the same region have also been recorded; 

 for example, in 1887 in the mountain range Kara-Tube, fifty kilometres from Samar- 

 kand. The turquois occurs here in limonite and quartzose slate, and the place was, 

 at some unknown time, the scene of mining operations. Finds of turquois have been 

 made in the same region in our own time; for example, in the Syr Darya country in 

 the Kuraminsk district (in the Kara Mazar mountains), and also in the Karkaralinsk 

 district in the Kirghiz Steppes (Semipalatinsk territory of Siberia). These and other 

 occurrences in the same region have no commercial importance and need no further 

 consideration." 



