s. The Turks use it for pipes which are
made in the same way that pottery is and afterwards soaked in wax and
is then ready for smoking. It heats slowly and is capable of greater
absorption than any other material used in pipe making. To properly
color a meerschaum is now considered as one of the fine arts and when
completed is considered quite a triumph. When the pipe takes on a rich
deep brown tint it is considered a valuable pipe and is watched and
guarded as a most valuable treasure.

M. Ziegler thus describes the source whence the considerable annual
supply of meerschaum for meerschaum pipes is derived:

"Large quantities of this mineral so highly esteemed by
smokers, comes from Hrubschitz and Oslawan in Austrian
Moravia where it is found embedded between thick strata of
serpentine rock. It is also found in Spain at Esconshe,
Vallecas and Toledo; the best however comes from Asia Minor.
The chief places are the celebrated meerschaum mines from
six to eight miles southeast of Eskis chehr, on the river
Pursak chief tributary to the river Sagarius. They were
known to Xenophon, and are now worked principally by
Armenian Christians, who sink narrow pits, to the beds of
this mineral, and work the sides out until water or imminent
danger drives them away to try another place. Some
meerschaum comes from Brussa, and in 1869 over 3,000 boxes
of raw material were imported from Asia Minor at Trieste,
with 345,000 florins. The pipe manufacture and carving is
principally carried on in Vienna and in Rhula, Duchy of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The commercial value of meerschaum
carving at these places may be estimated at $2,000,000
annually. However very large quantities of them are not made
from genuine but artificial material. The waste from these
carvings is ground to a very fine powder, and then boiled
with linseed oil and alum. When this mixture has sufficient
cohesion, it is cast in molds and carefully dried and
carved, as if these blocks of mineral had been natural. It
is said that about one-half of all pipes now sold are made
from artificial meerschaum. Meerschaum is one of the
lightest of minerals and it is said that in Italy bricks
have been made of it so light that they would float on the
top of the water. Some pipes (doubtless owing to the quality
of meerschaum) take on more co