Jade 



as one of the articles of tribute of the 

 Province of Yung Kan, which embraced 

 nearly all the present provinces of 

 Shenhsi and Kan-su, and extended in- 

 definitely northward to the desert. 



It is an old saying with the Chinese 

 that " jade stone comes from the Kuenlun 

 Mountains, in the Province of Khotan," 

 and in the history of the T'ang Dynasty 

 (618-906) reference is made to a yearly 

 tribute of 500 pieces of jade sent to the 

 Emperor by the king of that re- 

 gion. Travelers describe the jade 

 quarries as situated on the south 

 face of the Kuenlun Mountains, in 

 the main valley of the upper part 

 of the Karakash River, south of 

 the city of Khotan. They extend 

 for a mile or more in length, and 

 in this space are the entrances of 

 at least a hundred tunnels which 

 riddle the mountain side in every 

 direction, and in some cases pierce 

 through the mountain to the fur- 

 ther side. The mineral is found 

 in veins of varying thickness, in 

 width from a few inches to ten 

 feet, but so seamed and cracked 

 as to make it difficult to find a 

 piece even a few inches thick which 

 is not badly flawed. Until the mid- 

 dle of the last century China main- 

 tained her authority over eastern 

 Turkestan, including Yarkand and 

 Khotan. The people, however, 

 Mohammedan, and in 1852 they 

 ceeded in throwing off the Chinese yoke 

 by a general uprising, in which all the 

 officials were massacred. The jade 

 workers, who were Chinese, probably 

 fled from the quarries at this time and 

 shared the fate of their countrymen. 

 Their clothing, implements, and rem- 

 nants of food were left in their haste, 

 and were seen by Cayley when he vis- 

 ited the quarries in 1871. Work has 

 since been resumed, but too many of the 

 expert carvers and workmen were killed 

 during the rebellion for the industry to 

 recover its former preeminence. 



Doose boulders of jade are often car- 

 ried down by the force of the current in 

 the Karakash and tributary streams, 

 and they eventually become embedded 

 in the soft clay banks or are deposited 

 in the bed of the river. This ' ' water 

 jade " is highly valued by the Chinese 

 carvers, as its rough journey is a severe 

 test of hidden flaws, which might other- 

 wise cause the block to fall to pieces 

 after much labor has already been ex. 



Eastern Turkestan. After the Map of Dr 

 M. A. Stein, Indian Educational Depart- 

 ment. Reprinted by courtesy of the Royal 

 Geographical Society and Dr M. A. Stein. 



were 

 suc- 



pended on it. It is obtained either by 

 digging the boulders out of the banks 

 or by divers specially trained for the 

 work. An inspector always accompa- 

 nies these diving parties, whose duty 

 it is to mark each lump as it is brought 

 up, estimate its value, and finally ship 

 the jade to Peking. Such pieces bring 

 three times the price of quarried speci- 

 mens of similar size and color. 



In many rivers of eastern Turkestan 

 jade pebbles are found in abundance. 

 The word "kash," so often found in 

 the names of rivers and places in this 

 region, means "jade" in Toorkee, and 

 there seems little reason to doubt the 



