The perfection with which many are cut, the deftness with which they are pierced, and the beauty of the polish, do honour to the craftsmen who made them.

But their skill did not end here.

With the point, saw, drill, and grindstone, they fashioned these materials into an infinity of shapes--hearts, human fingers, serpents, animals, images of divinities.

All these were amulets; and they were probably less valued for the charm of the workmanship than for the supernatural virtues which they were supposed to possess.

The girdle-buckle in carnelian (fig.