INGENUITY AND LUXURY 



the South African mines, furnishes a large proportion 

 of the gems. It is worked by cutting and disintegrat- 

 ing by powerful streams of water, reducing it to a loose 

 mud, which is then washed through a long series of 

 wooden boxes. Across the bottom of these boxes, 

 strips of iron two and a half inches high are placed 

 and against these the sapphires find lodgment, while the 

 lighter particles of gravel are washed away. 



Besides the blue sapphire, which is of course the 

 most highly prized gem of the sapphire group, there 

 are the yellow sapphire, known as the " oriental 

 topaz/' the purple sapphire, known as the "oriental 

 amethyst," the green sapphire, known as the " oriental 

 emerald/' and the " fancy sapphires" of almost all 

 shades and tints. None of these stones has any very 

 great commercial value as compared with the corun- 

 dum in the form of rubies or blue sapphires. Yet 

 many of them are beautiful and brilliant stones. Un- 

 fortunately they resemble other cheaper forms of 

 stones, and this, with the caprices of fashion, seems 

 to keep them from merited popularity. Many of these 

 gems are found in Montana associated with the more 

 valuable blue sapphires; and Burma, Siam,and the other 

 sapphire-producing countries furnish great quantities of 

 them for the cheaper grades of jewelry. 



There is still another form of corundum gem, the 

 asteria, or star-stone, which is one of the most in- 

 teresting of stones. It is a semi-transparent stone, 

 which when cut with a convex rounded surface which 

 lies at an exactly right angle to the principal axis of 

 the crystal, shows a six-pointed, shimmering star of 



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