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Grenville Serpentines, where he turned by a fcot-lathe a number of very 

 pretty ornaments such as vases, doork-nobs, etc., but owing to his 

 method of cutting up the stone with a hand-saw we need hardly men- 

 tion that this enterprise was not attended with much success. 



Calumet Island, Wakefield, Templeton, Bowman and Grenville 

 probably afford the best translucent variety, although it is largely distri- 

 buted over other parts of Canada, especially the Eastern Townships. 



Amber is occasionally found in rounded pieces in the lignites of 

 the cretaceous and may possibly afford material suitable for beads, etc- 

 The North- West Territory and British Columbia have both contributed 

 small specimens. 



Jet is a variety of cannel coal, not yet observed at any Canadian 

 locality, and judging from the many so-called imported Jet ornaments 

 that 1 have seen lately, if the Whitby mineral is much used, black 

 enamel and glass constitute the Jet of the present time. 



I have now called your attention to the various minerals 

 available for gems and semi-gems scattered over the Dominion and 

 given the localities of the more important material, and at the same time 

 have drawn comparisons with those of other couiUries. Some per- 

 sons have an idea that our crude material has no value before cutting 

 and that it might be sold by the ton or hundredweight instead of by the 

 carat, as most European or Oriential gems are. Now this vague idea 

 might lead some persons to infer that our gems in Canada are compara- 

 tively worthless, owing to the great abundance of cutting material, 

 and only after being polished are they of any value. 

 Certainly several of our semi-gems, such as Agate, Jasper, Amazon 

 Stone, &c., might be obtained by the ton, and consequently are of little 

 value, and even after being cut are quite inexpensive. But before we 

 begin to guage our material for gem cutting, we must prcjvide ourselves 

 with certain facts, respecting its uniformity of colour and transparency, 

 and its freedom from flaws and cavities ; then when blocks of six inch 

 cube of such material can be obtained, we may talk of selling it by the 

 ton. It is true of certain minerals, that large masses often occur, and 

 perhaps one per cent, of this might be utilized, but then this large per 

 centage only api^lies to a very few of our semi-gem minerals. And, on 

 the other hand, the uncertainty of some minerals makes it almos^ 



