A MAP IN PRECIOUS STONES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIII, Issue 12242, 30 June 1900, Page 4

A MAP IN PRECIOUS STONES.

The most expensive map. in the. world is a map of France in mosaic work, sent by the Emperor of Russia to. the President of the French Republic. None buit an Empofer and an autocrat could have afforded this present. The map, which, is one yard square in size, took three years to make, and cost £160,000 sterling. The eighty-sis departments of France .are represented by as many varieties of Siberian jasp, only the rarest variety being used. Tie Department of the Seine, in winch Paris is situated, the smallest French department, is represented by a pink variety, of as fresh and subtle a colour as that of a rose. This variety, very rare in former times, is to be found no longer. The last bit that money could purchase was just large enough to represent the smallest French county. The outline of every stone has been cut out to the finest approximation, the accuracy as regards truth to scale and detail being greater than that of the best engraved maps. The outlying portions of adjoining countries— Germany, Italy, Spain England, Belgium—are represented by slabs of a darker colour, the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay by a single whitish slab. Towns of France, 106 in number, are marked in precious stones mounted in gold. In selecting them, regard was paid to size, variety and beauty of colour. The stones are cut, and the jasp* is highly polished. Paris is represented by a diamond the size of a small hazel-nut, Havre by an emerald, Rouen by a sapphire, Rheims by a chrysolith, Lyons by a tourmaline, Nantes by a beryl, Bordeaux by an aiguemarine, Marseilles by an emerald, Nice by a hyacinth, Cherbourg by an Alexandrite (green in the daytime and reddishblue in the evening), and Toulon by a chrysoberyl. ' Twenty-one small towns are fig-ami by amethysts, thirty-five by tourmalines and thirty-eight by rock crystal. The names of towns, foreign countries,' etc., are written in letters of solid gold, chiselled and let into the stone. Rivers are _in platinum. The map strikes one at first sight as an object of very great value, and it gives a striking picture of the mineral wealth of Siberia. It is sent nominally to M. Loubet, but, as he receives it in his official capacity, it becomes the property of the French 'nation. It will be placed in the Louvre*