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The Therapeutic Use of Precious Stones: Guiana

An early notice of jade as a remedial agent appears in Sir Walter Raleigh's account of his travels in Guiana. Treating of a people of "Amazons" said to dwell in the interior of the country, Raleigh says: ("The Discovery of the Large, Rich, and Beautiful Empire of Guiana," London, 1848, Hakluyt Pub. Originally published in 1596.) These Amazones have likewise great store of these plates of golde, which they recover by exchange, chiefly for a kinde of greene stone, which the Spaniards call Piedras Hijadas, and we use for spleene stones and for the disease of the stone we also esteeme them: of these I saw divers in Guiana, and commonly every King or Casique hath one, which theire wives for the most part weare, and they esteeme them as great jewels.