AN ANALYSIS OF JADEITE FKOM MOGOUNG, BURMA. 



By Oliveii C. Farrington. 



The specimen of jadeite here described (No. 8130(5), was obtained 

 from Mr. James Wickersliam, of Tacoma, Washiu^toD, he having for- 

 warded it to Major J. W. Powell, Director of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey, for examination. The material sent consisted of fragments 

 taken from a jade bowlder procured in Burma by Eev. J. A. Friday, 

 who was for ten years a n)issionary in the vicinity of Mogoung. As 

 these fragments seemed to be typical specimens of the unworked 

 Burmese jadeite, aud came from a source which could leave no doubt 

 as to their genuineness, it was thought desirable by Prof. F. W. 

 Clarke, Chief Chemist of the Survey, that a somewhat extended 

 examination should be made of them, and they -were accordingly 

 placed in the hands of the writer for this ])urpose. 



Concerning the mode of occurrence of the jade, the information 

 which Mr. Friday obtained is largely corroborative of the i^reviously 

 published statements of Dr. Anderson*, and since these give an excel- 

 lent description of the Mogoung '^diggings," we quote them here: 



A stone known in coimnerco as jade is extensively worked in tlie Mogoung 

 district of Upper Burma. 



The mines, or ratlier pits, are in a valley 25 miles southeast of Meiukhoom, as 

 many as 1,000 men being engaged in digging, during certain seasons of the year. The 

 stone is found in the form of more or less rounded bowlders, associated with others 

 of quartz, etc., embedded in a reddish yellow clay. The pits are not after any par- 

 ticular plan and none exceed 20 feet in depth. They occur all over the valley and 

 at the base of the hill. The masses which are removed are of considerable si^e, and 

 I saw sonu> in a godown of a merchant at Rangoon so large that it required three 

 men to turn them. * * * The greater portion of the Mogoung stone was formerly 

 exported to Momien, in Yunan, aud a considerable amount still goes there. It is 

 possible therefore that the specimens of jadeite from China, of which analyses have 

 been pnblished, were originally obtained in Burma. It appears however that there 

 are jade mines in Yunan also, as well as in other provinces of China. 



In regard to the metliods employed by the natives in working the 

 jade, Mr. Friday states that they break, by heating, the bowlders which 



* Geology of India, Part iv, p. 94. 



Proceedings K.ational Museum, Vol. XVII — No. 981. 



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