404 JADE. 



One of the principal beds of this mineral, known in China by the 

 name of Yu, is found at Tai-Thong, in the province of Chenn-si. The 

 larger part, however, comes from the city of Khotan, in the canton of 

 Yarkande, of ancient Chiuese Turkistan, and is brought from Tartary 

 through Bokhara. In that country there are entire mountains composed 

 of. it, and the purest pieces, precious for their beauty as for the fine- 

 ness of grain, are found in the seams of the highest pinnacles. It is 

 said that the mountain Mirdjai, in the principality of Khotan, is entirely 

 formed of jade. The mineral presents itself in various localities, but 

 the finest specimens are obtained from the very summit ; a workman, 

 provided with the requisite tools, climbs the rocks, detaches small 

 masses, which roll down to the base. 



It is impossible to explain the etymology of the word Yu. The only 

 statement to be made with any confidence is that the word is of the 

 highest antiquity. According to Abel Eemusat, it is found in the LiKi, 

 chapter phrengi, in that part of chi-king or book of verses entitled Ta-ya, 

 and also in Yih-King, or book of transformations, at the definition of the 

 hexagramme Ting. We close these remarks of the learned orientalist 

 by saying that Chou-King, or Book of the Annals, indicated by the words 

 Ta-yu and Y-yu the rarer as well as the more common jades. 



The high prices brought by jades even in China has caused a kind of 

 chalcedony to be much sought after, called by Bridgman, in his Chinese 

 Chrestomathy, chalcedony-chrysopra.se, and which the shrewd Canton 

 merchants sell to foreigners for the true jade. There are two kinds ot 

 it. One, of a feeble green color, is called fi-tsoui-yo or fi-pi-yu, and is 

 brought from Yunan. The price appreciates as the color is more lively 

 and of a more chatoyant apple-green tint. The other variety is a deep 

 clouded green, and is known by the name hi-lai-kao-yo orhi-le-tchao-yu. 

 It is brought from Kansouh. 



From the earliest times the Chinese have attached a high value to 

 jade. The Li-Ki, or Memorial of Bites, a canonical book in the Celestial 

 Empire, in which the yu is compared to the subtile matter composing a 

 rainbow concreted and fixed in the form of a stone, gives a proof of its 

 venerable antiquity. The philosopher Koung-fou-tseu, (Confucius,) who 

 lived five hundred years before our era, explained to one of his disciples 

 why this stone, endowed with extraordinary qualities, possessed in 

 aucient times the merit of being the subject of the meditations of sages 

 aud to be the symbol of virtue. One day the disciple Tze-kun inquired 

 of his divine master, " May I dare ask you why the sages esteem the 

 jade, and hold in light reverence the stone huen 1 Is it because the jade 

 is very rare and the other stone quite common ?" Koung-fou-tseu replied, 

 " It is not because the mineral huen is abundant nor because the jade 

 is scarce that the latter is valued, but because from all time the sages 

 have compared virtue to jade. In their eyes the polish and brilliant 

 hues of jade represent virtue and humanity. Its perfect compactness 

 and extreme hardness indicate exactness of statement ; its angles or 



