Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-07-26
mistellaneous.
ROCK-CRYSTAL LAPIDARY IN JAPAN.

As in all Japanese houses, the floor is
raised from the ground foot or more.
The universal manner of sitting, even
when at work. on the hams, Is shown with
variety in disposing of the feet. Some
times IL man will take seat on his knees
and heels. Another will prefer the cross
legged style The appliances of work are
extremely simple. and skill, patience. and
hereditary pride make up for any seeming
lack of labor-savng tools. Heredity is an
important factor in japanese labor. In
many of the villages the crack workmen
trace back their pedigree, both Of skill
and blood from to 20 generations.
once employed carpenter whose fore
fathers-as the records of the village tenn
pie of his sect, in which he and they had
worshped, showed-had followed the
same trade for 26 generations. On the
floor we see man standing who has been
out on the hills digging out the crude
quartz. His hammers and picks, with
which he breaks off, prizes out, or digs up
the rock lie on the coarse rice-straw mat
on the earthen floor Having secured
basketful and borne the pieces to the lap
idary on his shoulder, he cleanses them Of
adhering gravel or bits of rock. He then
fellow too old to 90 bare-headed in the
shop any longer Ike the younger men,
who NAV be his sons. The old mans
part of the work is to break off the long
bars of rock into bits the gross size OF the
ball or bead to be made therefrom. Lay
ing the piece on large stone cpsered
with piece of mating, with the end ofthe
calculated length to be brokon of. pro-
truding over the edge of the stone, sharp
quick blow with the steel-edged hammer
usually sewers it. On larger, and thicker
pieces gutter is first nicked out around
the surface sufficiently deep before the
final blow is struck. Skill and ''knack'
are of great account in this process, On
one side of the old man lies basket OF
these truncated prisms, which he hands
over to the man who rounds them OH into
rough globes. This is done by careful
chipping with a tiny steel-edged hammer
1t is astonishing how, with simple skill,
the man will make an almost perfect
sphere with one very ordinary tool. lie
soon learns the mysteries OF the planes Of
cleavage, where to tap lightly, where
heavily, when to clip, and when to pound.
The rough-coated balls are now passed to
the grinder, who has ready a tub of water
and four or five partly cylindrical piecesof
cast-iron Il little over a foot long. and look
ing like reversed graters. These are OF
different sizes and curves, according to the
size of the ball to be ground. His grind
ing material consists Of powdered garnet
of various degrees Of coasseress. He
uses water plentifully, and dexterously
keeps the balls turning so as to make the
surface specifically equal. In some eases
the ball is fixed in the end of a bamboo
tube, and the grinding finished by whirl-
ing it between the palms in half-spheri-
cal iron or stone socket. The globe Is
now smooth, but the perfect polish has yet
to be done by patient rubbing with the tip
of a bamboo cane, and then in the hands
with cloths dipped in croc,is, or rotlge.
native oxide Of iron. This produces
splendid lustrous surface, and the gem is
water-clear, and as refractive to the morn
ing light as drop Of dew that nesties in
the heart of the lotus.-Harper's IMa9a-
zine $3.50 reg tftshF ufF"f