CAMBAY, in long. 72° 51' E., and lat. 22° 5' N., in Gujerat, is at the bead of the bay which bears its name, on the estuary • of the Mahi, between the mouths of the Sabarmati on the west, and the Mahi on the east. It is said to be the town in which Zartnonachegas was born. Marco Polo travelled through it at the close of the 13th century, when on his return to Europe. Cambay or Khambhat is the capital of a feudatory state ruled by a Mahomedan family of MogItul descent, and of the Shiah sect. In 1875 its area was estimated at 350 square miles, and its population at 175,000. Cambay town has 33,709 souls. Near the town, skirting the shore of the gulf, and along the banks of the Mahi and Sabarmati rivers, are vast tracts of salt marsh land, submerged at high spring tides. The popu lation consists of Mabomedans, JaMs, and Parsecs, with the wild tribes of Koli and Wagri, and the languages spoken are Gujerati and Hindustani. The name is from Khambha-tirth or Stambha tirth, the pool of Mahadeva. Vikramaditya is said to have been born here.
Cambay Gulf is formed by the coast of Gujerat on the west, and the Peninsula of India on the east, and extends due north 80 miles, being about 3 miles wide at its entrance. In ordinary springs the rise and fall is 25 feet. Surat lies at the eastern point of the gulf. The gulf receives the two rivers Tapti and Nerbadda. —Imp. Gaz.
Cambay Stones.—In 1503, Lewes Uertomenes, a learned gentleman of Rome (See As. Soc. J1. 1824, vol. xviii.), says, In this region is also a mountain where the onyx stone, commonly called the cornelian, is found ; and not far from this, another, where chalcedony and diamond are found.' It stras visited in 1623 by Pietro do la Valle. Captain Hamilton, who visited Cambay in 1681, says, The cornelian and agate stones are found in this river, and nowhere else in the world. Of cornelian they make stones for signets; and of the agates, cabinets entire except the lids. I have seen some 14 or 15 inches long, and 8 or 9 inches deep, valued at £40. They also make bowls of some kinds of agate; and spoons, and handles of swords, daggers, and knives, and buttons, and stone seals and snuffboxes of great value.' Cambay still enjoys celebrity for its silicious minerals,—cornelians from Ratanpur in the Raj pipla state; agates from Rewakanta, Kapadwanj, and Sukaltirth, on the Nerbadda, and from Rajkot in Kattyawar. The Ehils are the miners. They are worked into every variety of ornament,— cups, boxes, necklaces, handles of daggers, of knives and forks, seals, etc. Cambay stones form a distinct geological formation, derived pro bably from the antygdaloid trap rocks drained by the Nerbadda and Tapti. They pass in Europe and America for Scotch, Irish, Chamouni, Niagara, Isle of Wight ` pebbles,' according to the place in which they are sold. The Brazils import them as largely as India into Europe, where the terms ` Brazilian' and Indian' agates are used indiffer ently by the trade. The principal varieties sold in Bombay are crystal, milk-quartz, prase, a green variety, moss stone, mocha stone, fortification agate, chalcedony, cornelian, chrysoprase? helio trope, onyx, obsidian? and very rarely amethyst.
Necklaces, black and green, . . Rs. 0.8 to 2.8 /1 red, . . . . . 0.2 „ 5 Pape r-c utters, 0.8 „ 2 Knife handles, per dozen, . . . 6 11 12 Stones for brooches, . . . . 1 to 8 annas.
Snuffboxes, 0.12 to 10 Cups and saucers, . . . . 5 „ 100 Pen handles, 0.6 „ 1 Studs of all sorts, per dozen, . . 0-6 ' , 2 Trouser buttons, per pair, . . . 8 to 10annas.
Coat /1 /1 • • • 68 Bracelet beads of all sorts, per pair, . 0.12 ,, 12 to 2 Paper-weights, 4 „ 5 Tables of sizes, . . . . 15 „ 50 Guns „ 25 „ 100 Ear-rings, per pair, . . . . 0.2 „ 1 Finger-rings, 1 to 6 annas.
The fragments of a Murrhine cup—the little Cambay stone cup still made in Cambay—were exhibited in the theatre of Nero, as if, adds Pliny, they had been the ashes of no less than Alexander the Great himself !' Seventy thousand sesterces was the price of one of these little Cambay cups in Rome in the days of Pompey. The price in Bombay ranges now from Rs. 5 to Rs. 100. Nero paid 1,000,000 sesterces for a cup, 'a fact well worthy of remembrance,' slyly remarks Pliny, `that the father of his country should have drunk from a vessel of such a costly price!' The stones are sawn or ground down ; for the native lapidary's wheel consists of a strong wooden platform 16 inches by 6, and 3 inches thick. In this are two strong wooden uprights. Between these is a wooden roller 8 inches long and 3 in fastened into a bead at the one end. This works on an iron spindle or axle at each end. On the one end the axle is screwed and fitted with a nut, by which the saw or grinding wheel can be made fast. The saw consists of a thin plate of iron, the cutting material consisting of ground corundum. The lap wheels consist of two circular discs or cakes of lac, with ground koortind, coarse or fine, accord ing to the work, of a copper disc for polishing, and a wooden one for finishing the work. These are spun backwards and forwards by a bow, the string of which passes round the roller. The lapidary sits on his hams, steadying the wheel with his foot, and holding on the stone with his left hand, while he works the bow with his right. For very fine work, a small-sized wheel, similar to the English lapidary's wheel, but of smaller size, is used. It is driven by a multiplying wheel, strap, and pulley. The custom-house returns give the value of the traffic in Cambay stones at an average betwixt £10,000 and £12,000 annually, one per cent. of the stones finding their way to Europe. Gayni or Gajni was one of the ancient names of Cambay, and it was the port of the ancient Balabhipura, the ruins of which are 3 miles from Cambay. Almeyda, when he visited the coast of Cambay, observed a very ancient town, with a large mosque, and near it a spacious place, covered with tumuli.—HannIton's New Account of the East Indies, Lond. 1744 ; Report of the Juries in 1851 ; Pennant's Hindoostan, i. p. 64 ; Tod's Travels.