Note 188 — Chapter LIX · MISCELLANEOUS TRADES

At the quarries in the Island of Naxos 300 men are employed. Emery stone is too hard to be dug out or even blasted. It is one of the hardest substances known. Large fires are kept blazing round the huge blocks until the natural cracks expand with the heat, when levers are inserted to prise them apart. The process is repeated until the blocks are reduced in size to masses of a cubic foot or less, in which form it is exported. It is estimated that there are still 20,000,000 tons of emery available in Naxos.