TURQUOISE: OCCURRENCE IN PERSIA 393 



quartzose slate, at another sandstone, and at a third trachytic rocks, the latter being 

 remarkable as the bearer of the finest qualities of turquoise. The mineral appears never to 

 nave been found in limestone ; statements as to its occurrence in this rock have been shown 

 to be based on error. 



The occurrence of turquoise in Europe is only sparing, and what has been found 

 hitherto is almost entirely of the green variety, which is unsuitable for cutting as gems. 

 The colour of European stones may in some few cases incline to blue, but is never of a pure 

 sky-blue. At most localities the tm-quoise veins appear to be in a matrix of quartzose 

 slate, as, for example, at Oelsnitz in Saxon Voigtland, and at Steine and Domsdorf near 

 Jordansmiihl in Silesia. 



Ry far the most important localities for fine blue turquoise are in Asia. Of these the 

 most famous are in Persia ; hence the finest stones are referred to as " Persian turquoise." 

 The name given to this their favourite stone by the inhabitants of the country is piruzeh 

 (Arabic, firnzeh) ; and in the opinion of C. Ritter the word turquoise is a corruption of this. 



The most important Persian turquoise mines, and those which yield precious material 

 almost exclusively, are situated in the district of Nishapur, fifteen geographical miles west 

 of Meshed in the province of Khorassan. In recent times details concerning this locality 

 have been given by Tietze, Rogdanovitch, and the Persian General C. Houtum Schindler, 

 who, at the beginning of the eighties, was for some time governor of the mining district and 

 acting manager of the mines. 



The mountains in the neighbourhood consist of nummulitic limestone and sandstone 

 associated with clay-slates and interbedded with large masses of gypsum and rock-salt. All 

 these beds have been broken through by younger volcanic rocks belonging to the Tertiary 

 period, and consisting of porphyritic trachytes, or, according to some observers, of porphyry 

 (felsite-porphyry). They form a chain of mountains extending from west to east between 

 Kotshan and Nishapur. The occurrence of turquoise in this district is confined to the 

 southern slopes of Ali-Mirsai, a peak in the chain with a height of 6655 feet. In this 

 limited area are situated all the turquoise mines, not only those at present open, but also 

 many now abandoned which were formerly worked, some being of great antiquity. The 

 mountain is penetrated at a height of 4540 feet by a valley in which is situated the village 

 of Maaden, 5100 feet above sea-level, and in latitude 36° 28' 15" N. and longitude 58° 20' E. 

 of Greenwich. This village is the centre of the area in which turquoise mining is carried 

 on ; the mines lie in the immediate vicinity of this to the north-west, and range in altitude 

 from 4800 to 5800 feet above sea-level. All the inhabitants of Maaden earn their livelihood 

 by work connected with the mining, cutting, and selling of this precious stone. 



The original mother-rock here consists exclusively of porphyritic trachyte, which occurs 

 in a weathered condition, and in brecciated masses consisting of blocks of the same rock 

 cemented together by brown iron-ore (limonite). The turquoise fills up cracks and crevices 

 in the trachyte and between the blocks forming the breccia ; and being the latest formed 

 mineral is deposited in and on the limonite. The latter frequently fills the rock cavities 

 to only a partial extent, and the remaining spaces are filled by turquoise. This is found 

 in layers of greater or less extent and only moderately thick, usually from 2 to 6 and never 

 more than 13 millimetres in thickness. As a rule, it is found between layers of limonite of 

 greater or less thickness, but this is not invariably the case. At other times the turquoise 

 occurs in small masses of irregular shape and ranging in size from that of a pea to that of 

 a bean. These small masses are either distributed irregularly through the rock or collected 

 together so as to form plate-like masses within the limonite. The occurrence of turquoise 

 in small veins running obliquely through larger veins of limonite, and sometimes extending 



