NEPHRITE: OCCURRENCE IN ASIA 461 



in Silesia, for example, at Gnicliwitz in the Breslau district. Here in Germany, however, 

 rough nephrite is more common, and is known to occur in several different ways. A few 

 erratic blocks and pebbles have been found in the glacial deposits left by the northern ice- 

 sheet, among other places at Stubbenkammer, in the island of Rugen, at Potsdam, at 

 Suckow near Prenzlau, and at Schwennnsal, north of Diiben, in the Bitterfeld district. The 

 blocks of nephrite do not differ in their mode of occurrence from other boulders in the glacial 

 deposits of the North German lowlands, and, like them, come doubtless from Scandinavia, 

 having originated in the crystalline schists so widely distributed throughout that peninsula. 



The occurrence of nephrite in situ in Germany is limited to Silesia. This locality for 

 nephrite was mentioned by Linnajus (1707-1778), but in course of time the occurrence was 

 forgotten and only rediscovered in the eighties of the nineteenth century. The places at 

 which nephrite is found are the same as those described by Linnaeus. One of these is 

 Jordansmiihl in the Zobten mountains ; here nephrite, usually of a dark green colour, 

 forms a layer of considerable extent, and in places over a foot in thickness between 

 gi-anulite and serpentine. The mineral occurs at the same place as rounded nodules, the 

 largest of which measure 5 centimetres across, and in veins in the serpentine ; the nephrite 

 in the latter situation being white or of a pale green colour. The nephrite of which the 

 axes found at Gnichwitz, two hours' journey from Jordansmiihl, are made, is very similar 

 in character to the rough material found at this locality. The other locality in Silesia, at 

 which nephrite is found, is Reichenstein, a famous mining centre. The material found here 

 is compact and of alight greyish-green colour, sometimes tinged with red, and is indistinctly 

 schistose ; it occurs in layers, the thickest of which are 7 centimetres across, intercalated 

 in a diopside-rock in the Prince adit. 



The most important localities for nephrite, from whence alone the mineral is exported, 

 are in Asia. Chief among these is Eastern Turkestan (Little Bucharia) in the Chinese 

 Smpire ; here, in the region south of Yarkand and Khotan, the Konakan and Karala 

 nephrite quarries are specially well known, but are not now systematically worked. These 

 quarries are situated on the right side of the valley of the Karakash, an upper tributary of 

 the Khotan Daria, 500 feet above and one and a half miles from the stream, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Gulbashen and nine miles east of ShahiduUa. The latter place is situated on 

 the above-mentioned river at a spot where there is a sharp bend towards the west ; it lies 

 in latitude about 36^° N. and longitude 78^° E. of Greenwich, in the region of the western 

 termination of the Kuen-Lun mountains, and on the southern slopes of this range. In these 

 quarries there is a layer of nephrite HO to 40 feet thick between gneiss and hornblende- 

 schist. The mineral occurs in situ at many spots on the northern as well as the southern 

 slopes of the Kuen-Lun range, for example, at places further down the Khotan Daria, and 

 on the Sirikia; and as pebbles in all the watercourses draining the northern and southern 

 slopes of these mountains. The nephrite of Eastern Turkestan is generally paler than that 

 found elsewhere. 



Another locality at which nephrite occcurs in situ lies further to the west in the Pamir 

 region and on the Rafkem Daria. This river flows eastward, and after being joined by the 

 Tash Kurgan from the south is known as the Yarkand Daria. The nephrite mines lie on 

 the right bank of the Raskem, a little north of the place where it bends suddenly from 

 north-west to north-north-east, in about latitude 37° 4' N. and longitude 76° E. of 

 Greenwich. The existence of this deposit was long suspected, on account of the presence 

 of pebbles of nephrite in the lower reaches of the Yarkand Daria. It was actually 

 discovered in the year 1880, and the characters of the nephrite pebbles and of the material 

 from_^this deposit were found to be in complete agreement. 



