4 THE oknrrr.   ·
stantinowitz opened the Congress in person and then Q
gave a reception in his marble palace to 200 selected out {
s of the total number of members present. I was fortu- ·%J;
I nate enough to be included in that number, but unfor— jjj.
tunate enough to have left my dress suit at home, so  
could not accept.  
The next day we were entertained—the whole body,  
_:with the fa.milies of the members in attendance-at the if
Czar’s summer palace at Peterhof'. The Czar was not j`
present in person, but we were entertained with all the
- pomp of royalty. Special steamboats to convey us there.
Royal coacl1es with the court coachman in livery to drive I
us from the wharf to the palace and afterwards about the   r
grounds, the most elegant lunch that it was possible to  
serve, including the finest wines of every description
served without limit, and finally a visit to the imperial
stone-cutting establishment. This is really the only Q
thing of the kind in existence. The size and fabulous AV
value of the cut and uncut semi-precious stones struck us .
all with wonder. Pieces of quartz and jade weighing X
tons are here handled by powerful machinery, built ex- .
pressly for the purpose, and turned out to somewhat near *
the proper general shape for vases, urns and sarcophagi. “
Then these are turned over to individual workmen for
the Gnishing touches. In some cases it takes two and a ’
half years to finish up a single vase, and from eight l
months to a year is the time required to turn out a fin- .
Y ished piece of work. We saw both here and in the
Museum of the School of mines, heaps upon heaps of
r ladis, lazuli, topaz, jade and malachite, that make even .
the collections of this character in the British Museum
seem tame, and our poor mineralogical collections in i
America appear worthless. The mineralogical and
especially the precious stone wealth of Russia is bound-  
less. ,