The Savannah morning news., 1904-07-31
Wonderful L0sfGems

When the Moors went into Spain
and toverthrew the Gothic kingdom
that had been established in that coun-
try, they found many wonderful pieces
of gold work thickly incrusted with
gems in the treasury of their van
pushed foes.
Most wonderful of all was a table
of considerable size, the top of which
was composed of one great emerald.
The table had 365 legs to it, each
leg made of solid gold and covered
thickly with gems. We are not told
exactly how large the emerald was,
but to have had a leg for every day
in the year it must have been of such
a size as to make the story that the
top was composed of a solid emerald
almost incredible.
the existence of the huge gem is
however, vouched for by contempor-
airy writers, and seems as we'll au-
thenticated as anything pertaining to
the period in question.
What became of the table? 1t was
regarded by the Moors as their chief
prize out of the Gothic treasury, and
was written about and talked about
all over the civilized world. Then 1t
faded away into the mists Of the past
ebAio lNo LchAC ID lLlhlOWAs
History also makes mention of
statues and columns cut from solid
emerald which existed in Egypt, in
Constantinople and at Gades, the pres
ent city of Cadiz, Spain, when that
city was a Phoenician colony.
Some people have thought that
these huge gems could not have been
genuine, but we're what would be
called paste in modern phrase. But
the MnnrG rNTOlna hINr
judges of gems in the world at that
time, and they pronounced the emerald
of the table to be a genuine stone of
fine quality.
When Cortez returned to Spain
from the conquest of Mexico he car
ried home many large gems, and
among them five emeralds of wonder
full size and beauty, which had been
cut into fanciful shapes by Aztec ar
lists.
One emerald was as large as a full
blown rose, which flower it was cut
to resemble. Another was cut in the
form of a good-sized fish with eyes of
gold.
third was fashioned into a bell
1t was apparently about the size of the
ordinary silver bell one sees on the
dinner table, and had for its tongue
large and perfect pearl. Around the
rim of the emerald bell was cut in
Spanish words, BLESSED is he who
created thee"
The fourth was the most valuable.
1t was a drinking cup, carved out Of
solid emerald Sof great size
and beauty. There was still another
great emerald in the set shaped like
horn.
These remarkable jewels of Cortez
are still in existence, but they are in
the ooze at the bottom of the Medi-
terranean sea. The conqueror and his
son, going with the Emperor Charles
V. to the siege of Algiers, were ship
wrecked in a great storm. The ship
in which they were embarked went
down, and the two saved themselves by
swimming to shore.
For some reason, probably for safe
keeping, for there were no safe de-
post companies in those days. Cortez
had taken along his priceless gems
when he went on the expedition
When he had to swim for his life in a
raging sea he could not cucumber him
self with the huge emeralds, and so
they were left to go down with the shin
and were lost.
Perhaps some day the sea will wash
them ashore, or a lucky diver will
bring them up from the depths. but
as the sea has held them for 463 years
the chances for their recovery are
small.