SEMI-OPAL. A silicified wood-opal of waxy lustre, transparent to opaque. It is found in various colours—white, brown, grey, red, blue, green. It has the appearance of petrified wood. It is a tree-growing charm and is no doubt the Forest Opal. TABASHEER. Corrupted from Tabixir, is a siliceous aggregation found in the joints of certain bamboo known in the Malay as the Mali Mali, Rotan jer’ nauf (blood of the dragon Rattan) and Buluh Kasap (rough bamboo). In appearance it is generally like clear gum arabic, although sometimes opaque, and is the sap transformed by evaporation. Under reflective light it is a kind of blue and under transmitted light it is either light yellow or amber-red. It is extremely absorptive. In Marco Polo’s account of the expedition of the Great Kaan against Chipangu, we are told that “when the people of the Kaan had landed on the great Island they stormed a tower belonging to some of the islanders who refused to surrender. Resistance being overcome, the Kaan’s soldiers cut off the heads of all the garrison except eight. On these eight they found it impossible to inflict any wound. Now this was by virtue of certain stones which they had in their arms inserted between the skin and flesh with such skill as not to show at all externally. And the charm and virtue of the stones were such that those who wore them would never perish by steel. So when the Kaan’s generals heard this they ordered that the prisoners be beaten to death with clubs. After their death the stones were extracted from their bodies and were greatly prized.” Friar Odoric says that these Stones of Invulnerability were Tabashir specimens which were used by the natives of the Indian Islands where their virtue was esteemed. According to Avicenna the Tabashir was a powerful eye stone and remover of past fears, present dreads and future anxieties.