Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-09-17

NNEM
THE INGENIOUS CHINAMAN.
yellow sandstone along the Baltic
shores. There are regularly operated
amber mines in east Prussia, at Pal
micken, and it is also picked from the
cliffs, much as placer miners find gold in
CALIFORNIA pockets. Consequently am
Der is no longer more valuable than
gold, but on the contrary it is on the
market at from two to fifty dollars pei
pound, according to its quality. 1t is
no longer used for knives and forks, but
is most generally used for mouth pieces
on meerschaum and other pipes. 1t is
no longer one of the mysteries of the
world, but one of the commodities. But
the specimens found in various places
in peculiar conditions, still find their
way into The cabinets of the collectors
of curios.
Here is something as wonderful as
the amber containing insects. Look at
this diminutive Chinese god. 1t is
perfect pearl, and yet you must know
that no sculptor could ever have CHS
eled it and polished it SO perfectly.
Pearls are morbid symptoms in oys-
tiers. If bullet is imbedded in human
flesh and not extracted, and the man
lives, the bullet becomes encysted. Ma
ture forms a coating around it. That
is exactly what is done by nature for
the pearl-bearing oysters. All along the
Chinese coast this fact is taken advan-
tage of. The cunning Cinnamon know
that if a grain of sand gets inside of
the shell of the oyster, nature will form
coating after coating of pearly secre-
ton around the disturbing particle,
thereby protecting the oyster from irri-
tation.
Some ingenious Chinaman fashioned
this little god, and then forced open the
shell of large oyster. and put the god
inside. Nature proceeded to cover the
intruding object with numerous secre-
tions, until behold we have a perfect
pearl god; and it is. indeed one of the
wonders of my collection. The oyster
assaulted must have been a large one.
1t is not unlikely that this experiment
may have been tried on number of oys-
tiers before one was found strong and
healthy enough to live and cover the
idol with pearl.
The Cinnamon make a regular bust
ness of raising pearls, and they intro
duce all sorts of little objects into the
oyster shells. 1t is difficult thing to
pry open the oyster shell without break
ing it. The live oyster shuts his mouth
pretty tight, and it requires patience,
experience and skill to force open the
lips just far enough without killing
the mollusk. Of course, all pearls are
not artificially produced; in fact only
a small proportion of them. But all
of the curiosities are the result of Chi
nese manipulation. The pearl divers
bring oysters to the surface for food,
as well as for their pearls. They risk
their lives on all occasions, for the
ocean is full of sharks, and many diver
has gone gayly at his work, never to be
seen again on earth. He has become
food for some one of the monsters of
the deep. | have read some wonderful
stories of fights which pearl divers have
had with sharks, in which the divers
have come out victorious by striking
the sharks behind the pectoral fin with
long, keen knives. 1t is narrated Of one
diver that he made fortune by kill
ing two sharks in one day, one 80 feet
long, and the other 35 feet long. He
was called the bravest man on earth,
and was made captain of the bodyguard
of his king.
"Now, with these few pointers about
amber ana pearls, if you will go to the
Smithsonian institution and study the
immense collection there you will finG
much to interest you and your readers.
You should also look at the crystals.
The word crystal comes from The Greek
word Krystalios, which means ice. The
ancients believed crystal to be ice so
thoroughly congealed that no amount
of heat would melt it. That is one of
the exploded fictions of ancient science.
Nearly all of the jewels of nature have
their histories and their legends. Even
until this day some of our ladies have
their theories concerning lucky stones,
unlucky stones, birth stones, and all
that sort of thing. A rovelist once made
fortune writing a novel about the
moonstone. Everybody read it. Every
body loves the mysterious"
SMITH D. FRY.
--Anastasius rarely spoke. 1t is Dc
leved TINT he had some defect of the