Show How aa JADE Sacred STONE of the CHINESE Qi Is do MINED I J JB URl URMA is the chief source of supply of jade B BURMA a stone that is held in great veneration bythe by bythe bythe the Chinese who are its principal ers Confucius the Chinese sage described it as symbolizing charity of he heart rt wisdom music loyalty loyalty loyalty loy loy- alty truth and even heaven itself According to tradition the discovery of jade in Burmah was made accidentally by a Chinese muleteer in the c century He lie picked d up a apiece apiece apiece piece pf gf stone in order to balance the loads on one of his mules and the stone afterwards proved tobe to tobe tobe be jade of great value Thereafter Chinese traders rushed to upper Burma to procure more of this precious mineral In the Chinese temple at near Man Mandalay alay there is a list containing the names of over GOOD Chinese jade merchants who have died since the beginning of the last century In those early days the quest of the stone was wasa a difficult and hazardous undertaking owing to the absence of roads the hostility of the K Kachin chin tribes and the nature of the country Now that Upper Burma has come under British rule the number of deaths has become negligible The producing jade-producing area is situated about 60 GO as the crow flies in a northwesterly direction direction direction tion from the northernmost town reached by the Burma railways It is enclosed east and west by the and rivers the latter being one of the main branches of the The mines are worked in the most primitive way and probably will continue to be so worked for many years as the government of Burma considers it polite to respect the suspicious dislike dislike dis dis- like of modern saving labor-saving appliances that is entertained by the who inhabit the hilly country in which jade is found Each mine according according ac ac- according cording to W. W A. A Hertz in a contribution to The London Graphic is merely a large pit or quarry over which a bamboo platform has been con con- Great difficulty is experienced by the miners in in clearing and keeping the mines free of water during the working season reason which begins in October October Oc Oc- October tober and ends in May and this is done by means of hundreds of lifts made of long bamboo levers to one end of which is suspended a large bucket that has been hewn out of a solid block of wood while to the other is fastened as a counterweight counterweight counterweight counter counter- weight a big stone ston or lump of clay To break up the larger stones is another dif dif- To do this a fire is lighted round a stone and when it becomes hot water is poured on it a process which is said not to improve the commercial commercial commercial com com- mercial value of the stone The miners when doing this protect themselves from the fierce heat by fastening banana leaves round the exposed exposed exposed ex ex- ex- ex posed parts of their bodies The color of jade is not as is popularly supposed supposed supposed sup sup- posed always green It may be of almost any of the colors of the rainbow A peculiar shade of green blended with opal is perhaps the color that is most prized by the Chinese who are connoisseurs connoisseurs connoisseurs con con- 1 on the subject |