Fig. 4 (Pl. I.). A highly conventionalized "fig" hand, with a chain for suspension ; Madrid. A flattish piece of jet, with four lines across the end to mark off the fingers, and a line across one side (illustrated) to show where the folded fingers meet the palm. A contemporary amulet, a number of which were kept for sale at a street-stall, against evil eye and (because it is of jet) for the preservation of the hair. I was told that at Madrid these amulets, when used for the hair, are carried anywhere upon the person, but that in the vicinity of Toledo they are worn, by women, in the hair itself.
Fig. 5 (Pl. I.). A similarly conventionalized "fig" hand (back of hand illustrated) of jet, in a silver socket ; Seville.
Jet. — A note quoted in the Diccionario General Etimológico speaks of jet as hung from the necks of Spanish Arab infants, to preserve them from the evil eye.[1] (See also Hands above.)
Fig. 6 (Pl. I.). A large bead of jet, in the form of a flattened globe, mounted in silver as a pendant, top here in view ; Madrid.
Stone and Glass. — At Madrid, at a small street-stall, a string of over fifty milky glass beads, similar to those shown in Fig. 58 (Pl. VIII.), but smaller, was found, kept for the purpose of supplying women with single beads as lactation-amulets. Several beads of agate, combining greyish, reddish, and white, similar to Figs. 61 and 62 (Pl. VIII.), were noted in other cities.
Fig. 7 (Pl. I.). A triple pendant, with a chain ; Madrid. The upper piece is of agate, greyish, white, and reddish, and was probably an amulet for women ; the middle piece is of blue glass with bands of other colours, and may have served as an amulet against the evil eye ; the lowest piece is a drop of black glass strewn thickly with spots of blue, yellow, and red, and probably served against the evil eye.
Fig. 8 (Pl. I.)- A large piece of milky agate, mounted in silver as a pendant ; Madrid. A lactation-amulet.
- ↑ See sub. nom. Azabache (Jet). The word Azabache (pronounced Atha-bá- che) is there given as derived directly from the Arabic, and the Arabic term as derived from the same root as the Latin word Gagates. The resemblance between Antipathes (a term used by Pliny in describing a black stone whose magical properties, corresponded to those of jet) and Azabache is so marked, however, as to seem to me to be worthy of a note here.
