THE SAPPHIRE COUNTRY 269 
ruby, the answer is that the finest sapphire gems 
have an intensity of color never equaled by any 
other stones, and the ruby is valued for this and its 
wonderful lustre, although other gems may surpass 
it in brilliancy. Rhodolite, like rhododendron, gets 
its beautiful name from the Greek word meaning 
rose, for it is the color of roses and rhododendrons. 
In the valley of the Cowee Creek these two lovely 
gems, the ruby and the rhodolite, have blossomed side 
by side in the rocks, each extracting from them what 
it needed to bring to expression the spirit of inorganic 
life, just as in the crumbling soil above them the 
roses and rhododendrons have blossomed each in its 
own rare colors to express the inner spirit of the 
plant. And who shall say that the same necessity, 
impelling the crystals through cycles of cosmic pres- 
sure to emerge in permanent forms of beauty, does 
not impel the flowers of the upper air to clothe them- 
selves in transitory loveliness? 
Other members of the garnet group besides rhodo- 
lite have been found in the North Carolina Moun- 
tains, but perhaps none other of important gem value, 
although immediately below the mountains Bohe- 
mian gem garnets, or Cape rubies, as they are also 
called, are found in abundance. But the garnet of 
the mountains exists as a rule in massive form, in 
places pure enough to be cut into wheels, — 
"emery wheels" made of garnet! 
In addition to the corundum or sapphire gems, and 
the one precious garnet stone, there is, in the moun- 
tains, a remarkable series of gem crystals found in the 
