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Facts and Fancies About Precious Stones: Indians

After expatiating on the mechanical skill displayed by the Indians of the New World, an early Spanish traveller gives the following details regarding their success as gemcutters:

Yet all that we have said is surpassed by the ingenuity of the Indians in working emeralds, with which they are supplied from the coast of Manta and the countries dependent on the government of Atacames, Coaquis or Quaques. But these mines are now entirely lost, very probably through negligence. These curious emeralds are found in the tombs of the Indians of Manta and Atacames; and are, in beauty, size and hardness superior to those found in the district of Santa Fe; but what chiefly raises the admiration of the connoisseur is, to find them worked, some in spherical, some cylindrical, some conical, and of various other figures; and all with a perfect accuracy. But the unsurmountable difficulty here is, to explain how they could work a stone of such hardness, it being evident that steel and iron were utterly unknown to them. They pierced emeralds and other gems, with all the delicacy of the present times, furnished with so many tools; and the direction of the hole is also very observable; in some it passes through the diameter, in others only to the centre of the stone, and coming out at its circumference they formed triangles at a small distance from one another, and thus the figure of the stone to give it relief was varied with the direction of the holes. The existence of emeralds in the region near Berenice is vouched for by Ptolemy. The mines of emerald here were duly entered in the map of the patriarch and the Arabs are said to have dug for them; but, Pocock writes,"As all stones that may be found belong to the Grand Signior, the Arabs are very well satisfied that the presence of emeralds should not be suspected, because he would have the profit, and the inhabitants might be obliged to work in the mines for a very small consideration."

The number of ancient hematite artefacts found in the United States indicates that this material was more largely used within its territorial limits for implements and ornaments than in any other part of the world; indeed the somewhat sweeping statement has been ventured that it does not seem to have been used outside of this section of the New World; however, some exceptions to this rule must be admitted. That certain of these ornaments were used as amulets is highly probable, and they were undoubtedly regarded as objects of great value, since with the primitive tools at his command the Indian cutter must have found his task a very hard one, requiring the expenditure of much time and patience. In the Andover Collection there is an exceptionally fine specimen from Roos County, Ohio. It is of heavy pure hematite, which has been worked into the form of a pendant; notches have been made at both ends, as a form of decoration, and on the lower, broad end, fourteen lines have been incised; the edges are slightly beveled and the patina indicates the antiquity of the work. The lines have evidently been made by a flint cutting-implement. Another probable hematite amulet is a rudely fashioned fish effigy. Here the appearances of eye and gill (only on one side) are evidently merely natural irregularities of surface, which it has been conjectured determined the cutter to add a mouth and round off the material so as to approximate a fish-form; the hematite is black and of fine quality. This relic comes from Cole Camp, Betnon County, Missouri. The larger number of these hematite artefacts are from Missouri, southern Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky, and considerable numbers have been turned up in Tennessee, New York, Wisconsin, and parts of Arkansas. Only a relatively small number were taken out of burials or graves, the majority of specimens having been secured on or near the surface.