XIX.] 
ORIENTAL POLISHING. 
399 
question to occupy space with a statement of my own super¬ 
ficial observations. If any one wishes to acquire a knowledge 
of Chinese manners and customs, he will not want for books on 
the country, his studies will rather be impeded by their enormous 
number, and often enough by the inferior nature of their con¬ 
tents. Here I shall only touch upon a single subject, because 
it especially interested me as a mineralogist, namely, the 
stone-polishing works of Canton. 
It is natural that in a country so populous and rich as China, 
in which home and home life play so great a role, much money 
should be spent on ornaments. We might therefore have 
expected that precious stones cut and polished Avouid he used 
here on a great scale, but from what I saw at Canton, the 
Chinese appea-r to set much less value on them than either the 
Hindoo or the European. It appears besides as if the Chinese 
still set greater value on stones with old “ oriental polishing,” 
i.e. with polished rounded surfaces, than on stones formed ac¬ 
cording to the mode of polishing now common in Europe with 
plane facets. Instead the Chinese have a great liking for pecu¬ 
liar, often very well executed, carvings in a great number of 
different kinds of stones, among which they set the greatest 
value on nephrite, or, as they themselves call it, “ Yii.” It is 
made into rings, bracelets, ornaments of all kinds, vases, small 
vessels for the table, &c. In Canton there are numerous lapi¬ 
daries and merchants, whose main business is to make and sell 
ornaments of this species of stone, Avhich is often valued higher 
than true precious stones. It was long so important an article 
of commerce that the place where it was found formed the goal 
of special caravan roads Avhich entered China by the Yii gate. 
Amber also appears to have a high value put upon it, especially 
pieces Avhich inclose insects. Amber is not found in China, but 
is brought from Europe, is often fictitious, and contains large 
Chinese beetles Avith marks of the needles on Avhich they have 
been impaled. Other less valuable minerals, native or foreign, 
