Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/145

 124 Primitive Greece : Mvcenian Art. is proved by the number of jade weapons found on ancient sites ; twenty-six axes of green and one of white jade were unearthed by Schliemann at Hissarlik alone." Now experts are agreed that no such stone exists in Anatolia ; to find it one must travel to the Kuen-Lun Mountains, i.e. to the very heart of Asia. In their opinion this mineral comes from Khotan, and must have found its way to Anterior Asia, either wrought or in its native state, by successive barters across the Iran plateau or along the Oxus, which then still discharged its waters into the Caspian. At the end of their long journey, the price paid for jade was certainly a very high one, but its owner found compensation in the match- Fio. 7.— Red jasper less qualities of the weapon, which in power and duration easily surpassed all others, much as a fine steel blade is superior to one of soft iron. Jade, it should be remembered, is the most resisting stone in existence, and can hardly be crushed by the heaviest hammers. Whether wrought in its original home or in the lands where now we find it, there is no doubt that it was fashioned by the slow, wearing process of emery. Polished axes such as that of Fig. 6 imply an enormous amount of patient labour. After jade, serpentine seems to have been very largely used ; though of no great hardness it is sufficiently compact to with- stand the blows of the hammer without being shivered to pieces ; next come jadeite, jasper, haematite, porphyry, and diorite, all of 'Schliemann, Ilios.