AGATES AND AG ATE- WORKING. 
31 
stones, and despatched them to Oberstein. From that day to 
this the South American stones have been constantly imported, 
and still form the staple material with which the German mills 
are fed. Numerous other discoveries in Uruguay have been made 
by emigrants from the agate district of Oberstein, who have 
devoted themselves to the task of collecting the stones — a task 
which at the present time is always difficult and often 
dangerous. 
Originally the stones were collected with little trouble, and 
shipped at little cost ; t hey w ere found loose in the soil, and 
brought over simply as ballast. Of late years, however, the 
trouble and cost have been greatly increased ; the agates, 
becoming scarcer, are found only with difficulty, the owners of 
the soil demand a rent for the right of search, the Governments 
of Uruguay and Brazil impo se an export duty on the agates, 
and the shipowners charge for their freight. Large quantities 
of these so -called “ Brazilian stones ” are nevertheless still im- 
ported, and the impetus given to the agate trade by their 
discovery half a century ago is not likely to die away. 
The agates, having been collected in the interior, are sent 
down to the coast in waggons drawn by mules or by oxen ; 
they are generally taken to Porto Alegre or to Salto, whence 
they are despatched to Montevideo and Buenos Ayres in order 
to be shipped to Europe. Hamburgh, Antwerp, and Havre 
have at different times been their destination ; but at whatever 
port received they are sent thence by rail to Oberstein. The 
earnelians, on account of the small size of the pebbles, are 
packed in cases, but the other stones, unless of exceptional 
quality, are conveyed in open trucks, like common paving 
stones. Arrived at Oberstein, they are sorted, and made up in 
lots, which are exposed for sale by auction in the courtyard of 
some well-known inn. Advertisements are inserted in the 
local papers (the Amts-Blatt fur das Furstenthum Birkenfeld , 
or the Nahethal Bote), and previous to the sale the agate-workers 
examine the parcels of stones, chip off fragments, and test them 
at home with special reference to their capability of receiving 
colour by processes to be presently explained. The stones, 
when purchased, are sent to the agate mills, where they are cut 
and polished on wheels turned by water-power. 
In determining the location of the agate industry an abundant 
supply of water-power was a factor quite as important as the 
presence of the stones themselves. From the heights of the 
Hochwald and the Idarwald, in which the Hundsriick cul- 
minates, numerous streams roll down with great rapidity, and 
finally pour themselves into the river Nahe. Of these streams 
the most important to the agate-worker are the Idarbach and 
the Fischbach, especially the former. The little Idar is about 
*Ut * 
