Among the innumerable forms of jade decoration or carving, produced by the indefatigable and painstaking Chinese artists, is a small curved wand often having a trefoil termination; sometimes the entire wand is of jade, and at other times it is of teakwood adorned with jade medallions, frequently showing birds and flowers. This wand was used as a kind of sceptre of office, and the official entitled to bear it would hold it in both hands when standing before the emperor. Its name, _ju-i_, means “may all be,” and is to be taken as a wish that everything may turn out fortunately. In modern times the _ju-i_ is carried as a lucky charm, although its official significance is not forgotten. This form of wand is said to have been introduced into China from India, at the time of the Buddhist propaganda, and in representations of Buddhist priests they are sometimes shown carrying one of them. In ancient India it was taught to be one of the seven precious objects, the _septa-ratna_, mentioned in the Vedas.[674] This Indian origin is, of course, highly probable, but it is strange that in ancient Egypt also, curved wands of a somewhat different type, made of ivory and embellished with symbolical figures, possessed the same blended significance of marks of official dignity and magic wands. A large mass of lapis lazuli was found in one of the Inca graves of Peru by Señor Emilio Montés, and was exhibited by him in the Centennial Exhibition of 1913. With the exception of one corner that has been chipped off, the block is of symmetrical form, the dimensions being, in inches, 24 × 14 × 9, and the weight 312 pounds. The smoothed surface gives evidence of careful and fairly successful polishing by the native lapidaries. This exceptionally fine specimen of lapis lazuli is now in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.[675] Evidently in ancient Peru as in the Old World the “celestial hue” of lapis lazuli was thought to render it most appropriate for use as a memorial offering to the dead or as a talisman by the aid of which their heavenward journey might be made easier. The so-called “black onyx” has almost entirely replaced jet. This is a chalcedony impregnated with a carbonic matter, such as blood or a solution of sugar, the carbonate of which is charred by sulphuric acid, giving a rich, velvety, black hue to the stone, which takes a high polish. However, a certain limited amount of the old “Whitby Jet” once so highly favored is still mined and worked up into ornaments in the neighborhood of Whitby on the northeast coast of England, in the district of Leeds, although but fifty persons are now engaged in this industry which fifty years ago gave employment to 1500 workers. Some Spanish jet is also used, a material harder and more brittle than that found in England. [Illustration: Autographed for this work by the author of the poem, Dr. Edward Forrester Sutton. ]