he dead (Alan Gardiner, "The Tomb of Amenemhet," p. 95; and A. M.
Blackman, _Journal of Egyptian Archaeology_, Vol. IV, p. 127).

When ancient prospectors from the South exploited the rivers of
Turkestan for alluvial gold and fresh water pearls, incidentally they
also collected pebbles of jade for the purpose of making seals. The
local inhabitants confused the properties of the stone with the magical
reputation of the gold and the pearls. One outcome of this jade-fishing
in Turkestan was the transference of the credit of life-giving to jade.
Prospectors searching for these precious materials gradually made their
way east past Lob Nor, and eventually discovered the deposits of gold
and jade in the Shensi province. Thus jade became the nucleus around
which the distinctive civilization of China became crystallized. It
played an obtrusive part not only in attracting men from the West and in
determining the locality where the germs of Western civilization were
planted in China, but also in giving Chinese culture its distinctive
shape.

"The ancient Chinese, wishing to facilitate the resurrection of the
dead, surrounded them with jade, gold, pearls, timber, and other things
imbued with influences emitted from the heavens, or, in other words,
with such objects as are pervaded with vital energy derived from the
_Yang_ matter of which the heavens are the principal depository." (De
Groot, _op. cit._, p. 316).

By a similar process diamonds acquired the same reputation in India when
searchers after gold discovered the precious metal in Hyderabad, and
the diamonds of Golconda came to be accredited with life-giving
powers.[440]

According to the beliefs of the Indians "the Naga owns riches, the water
of life, and a jewel that restores the dead to life".

Thus gold, pearls, jade, and diamonds in course of time acquired the
reputation of elixirs of life, but the hold they established upon
mankind was due to the fact (a) that the amulets made of these materials
made a strong appeal to the aesthetic sense, and (b) the arbitrary value
assigned to them made them desirable objects to search for.

In his "Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult" (1901) Sir Arthur Evans gives
cogent reasons for the view that at the time when Mycenaean influence was
powerful in Cyprus "the 'golden Aphrodite' of the Egyptians seems to
play a much more important part than any form of Astarte or Mylitta"
(p. 52). "The Cypriote parallels will be found to have a fund