NOME VII. LABRADOR ROCK. 97 



and tin* ; some pieces bear an exceeding high 

 polish, but very soft upon the surface, and may 

 be scratched with a nail or file. Some natural- 

 ists ascribe the reason of the beauty of the shades 

 and colours, to arise from a decaying quality in 

 the stone ; however that be, it has been turned 

 to no other use than specimens for the cabinets 

 of the curious, and inlaying snuff-boxes ; but if 

 a proper quarry be found in Labrador, we shall 

 have chimney-pieces of it, which will go beyond 

 any thing the world has ever seen, as to beauty 

 and elegance. The highest price any single 

 specimen has as yet sold for, is twenty pounds ; 

 but a much finer could now be purchased for 

 half the money. 



" John Jeans, the Scotish fossilist, lately dis- 

 covered a spar very similar and much resembling 

 the Labrador, in the shire of Aberdeen; but it 

 only displays one colour,' that is the gold tinge, 

 and is of a much softer consistency ; one of the 

 finest specimens of which is to be found in Lord 

 Gardenstone's cabinet of precious stones. This 

 stone is arranged in parallel strata, which appear 

 in certain lights to be of a greenish semi-trans- 

 parency, and white opake, like the onyx, alter- 

 nately ; in other lights, there are seen light tints 



* A strange analyst '. 

 VOL. II. I? 



