i8 Field Museum or Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 



(West Tibet). ^ This is also corroborated by the historical fact that 

 the kings of Ladakh received a tribute of turquoises from Guge.^ 



From my own experience I may say that according to information 

 received in Tibet turquois occurs in several mountains of the great 

 State of Derge in eastern Tibet, though my Tibetan informants were 

 unable to state the exact localities (or, which is more probable, did not 

 want to state them). At any rate, the fact cannot be called into doubt, 

 for in Derge, celebrated for the high development of art -industries and 

 its clever craftsmen, also fine carvings of turquois are turned out, 

 of which several specimens were secured by me that exhibit a peculiar, 

 very pleasing, soft apple-green tinge differing from any other kind met 

 in Tibet and China, and seemingly coming nearer to the Mexican 

 variety. It seems also that in the mountains to the north of Ta-tsien-lu 

 in western Sze-ch'uan a turquois of inferior quality and a sickly green is 

 obtained; it is, however, so poor and insignificant that the Chinese 

 traders there accustomed to the brilliant blue of their home product look 

 down upon it as spurious. A great many of these greenish stones are 

 utilized in a large collection of Tibetan silver jewelry brought together 

 by me in that town. ■ I was first inclined to accept the opinion of the 

 Chinese consulted by me, and to regard. these stones as imitations, but 

 Dr. Joseph E. Pogue to whom I sent three specimens for examination 

 convinced me that this opinion was unfounded. He writes as follows : 



"The three specimens give the following specific gravities (theoretical for tur- 

 quois is 2.6 — 2.83): 



1 . Small dark-green specimen 2.71 



2. Small light-green specimen 2.81 



3. Larger perforated green specimen 2 . 68 



All three specimens are phosphates, giving good tests. Washed with strong 

 ammonia, they did not lose their color, as most artificially colored turquoises will do 

 when so treated. The specimens reacted characteristically when heated; and when 

 viewed under the microscope, one contains a little granular quartz attached to its 

 edge." 



Captain C. G. Rawling ^ gives the following summary as the result 

 of his inquiry about the occurrence of turquois in Tibet : 



' ' The rough stones are bought at the fairs held in the country and conveyed by 

 the Indian merchants to Amritsar and Delhi, where they are mounted in gold and 

 silver, and afterwards reimported. Practically every matrix originally comes from 

 Tibet, but though inquiries were made at all the more important places, no informa- 

 tion could be obtained as to the situation of the mines. The Phari people obtain their 



1 That is, the three districts of Ngari comprising'the territories of Rutok, Guge, 

 and Purang. Gangs-chan means the glacier-mountains. 



2 ScHLAGiNTWEiT, Die Konige von Tibet, p. 862. 

 ^ The Great Plateau, p. 294 (London, 1905). 



