ON JADE AND KINDRED STONES. 
343 
Kuenluen mountains. Viewed from some little distance it 
looks as though a number of pigeon-holes had been irregularly 
hollowed out in the mountain-side. Of these excavations, Sto- 
liczka found as many as 1 20. At the entrance to each working 
is a heap of fragments of jade and the minerals which occur in 
association with it — the refuse of former activity, for the 
quarries have been deserted for some years. The jade occurs 
in nests and veins, in gneissose and schistose rocks. Most of it 
is of pale colour, some nearly white; bright green jade being 
comparatively rare. It is interesting to learn from Schla- 
gintweit that when the mineral is freshly broken from the rock, 
and while yet holding the “ quarry water,” it is so soft as to be 
readily scratched with a good knife, but that it gradually hardens 
on exposure to the atmosphere. The hardness of Oriental jade 
is about equal to that of felspar, and the hardness of jadeite, 
though slightly higher, never exceeds that of quartz. 
After the expulsion of the Chinese from Yarkand, fifteen 
years ago, the quarries in the Karakash valley were deserted, and 
are now the retreat of the wolf and fox. Stoliczka remarks that 
if the quarries still remain un worked, if the people of Turkestan 
are too apathetic to quarry the stone and export it to China, 
the supply to the celestial carvers will probably become scant, 
and Oriental objects in jade will consequently become rare and 
valuable. 
Pebbles of jade may be found in many of the streams which 
come down from the Kuenluen range, and it may therefore be 
concluded that the mineral is pretty widely distributed through- 
out this district. According to Schlagintweit it is not found in 
the Himalayas or in any part of India proper. Nevertheless 
jade, both in a raw state and carved into ornamental objects, is 
well known in India. Some remarkable specimens of jade from 
India, enriched with settings of brilliantly-coloured stones, were 
in the collection of the late Colonel Guthrie, and are now 
exhibited in the India Museum. It is difficult to find the 
precise source of the Indian-worked jade, the natives having 
merely a vague idea that it comes from a great distance. It 
appears certain, however, that jade or jadeite occurs in Burmah. 
None of the jade from Turkestan, it may be observed, can be 
referred to the species jadeite. 
While referring to the occurrence of jade in Asia, mention 
should be made of the Siberian nephrite, which was first intro- 
duced to the western world at the International Exhibition of 
1862. M. Alibert, who brought from Irkutsk such wonderful 
examples of graphite for the use of our lead-pencil makers, also 
brought some beautiful specimens of dark green jade. The 
mineral occurs in the form of boulders, embedded in a sandy 
soil, but is by no means common. The specimens brought by 
