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. The finest furs,--seal, otter,
squirrel, sable and ermine,--are brought from Siberia, Manchuria
and elsewhere, for the officials and the court, and can be
secured for less than half what they would cost in America.
Pearls, of which the Chinese ladies and the court are more fond
than of diamonds, may be found in abundance in all the bazars,
which are many, and judging from the way they are purchased by
tourists, are both cheaper and better than elsewhere.
The Chinese have little appreciation of diamonds as jewelry. On
one occasion there was offered to me a beautiful ring containing
a large sapphire encircled by twenty diamonds. When I offered the
dealer less than he asked for it, he said: "No, rather than sell
it for that price, I will tear it apart, and sell the diamonds
separately for drill-points to the tinkers who mend dishes. I can
make more from it in that way, only I dislike to spoil the ring."
The Empress Dowager during her late years, and many of the ladies
and gentlemen of the more progressive type, affected, whether
genuinely or not, an appreciation of the diamond as a piece of
jewelry, especially in the form of rings, though coloured stones,
polished, but not cut, have always been more popular with the
Chinese. The turquoise, the emerald, the sapphire, the ruby and
the other precious stones with colour have, therefore, always
graced the tables of the bazars in the capital, while the diamond
until very recently was relegated to the point of the tinker's
drill
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