Tavernier, writing of his time, p. 144, tells us there are but two places in all the east where coloured stones are found, within the kingdom of l'egu and the island of Ceylon. The first is a mountain twelve days' journey or thereabouts from Siren towards the north-east, the name whereof is Capelan. In this mine are found great quantities of rubies and espinels or mothers of rubies, yellow topazes, blue and white sapphires, jacinths, amethysts, and other stones of different colours. Among these stones, which are hard, they find other stones of various colours that are very soft, which they call I3acan in the language of the country, but are of little or no esteem.' In Southern India, the localities which supply the beryl are also supposed to have yielded the emerald, though Tavernier was not able to ascer tain that any part of India, in his day, was yield ing emeralds. 'As for emeralds,' he says (p. 144), it is a vulgar error to say they came originally from the east. And therefore when jewellers and gold smiths do prefer a deep-coloured emerald inclin ing to black, tell ye it is an oriental emerald, they speak that which is not true. I confess I could never discover in what part of our continent those stones are found. But sure I am, that the eastern part of the world never produced any of those stones neither in the continent nor in the islands. True it is, that since the discovery of America some of those stones have been often brought rough from Peru to the Philippine Islands, whence they have been transported into Europe; but this is not enough to make them oriental. Besides that, at this time they send them into Spain through the North Sea.' In the southern part of Ceylon is an exten sive group of mountains rising to the height of 7000 or 8000 feet, which successive falls diminish till they rest on the alluvial plains of the low country. The S.W. face of this group forms it bold range, crowned at its western extremity by Adam's Peak, called by the people Sri-pmula or Holy Foot, and at the eastern end of the range in Kirizalpota, which rises in abrupt precipices to 8000 feet above the plains. Ratimapura, or city of gems, is in part of this range. It is about GO miles from Colombo, and about 200 feet above the level of the sea. It is the centre of the gem-pro ducing district, which extends about fifty miles along the base of this mountain range, and in this district, comprising Saffragam and the Three Korles, the search for gems is a regular orme• pation of the people In the beds of streams awl Iii the alluvial plates lying in the valleys their banks. The gems found in that locality are the sapphire, the ruby, and the topaz ; the cat's eye, tunethyet, and beryl ; and the spine] ruby is also found, but is more rare. They are &tun I its a layer of gravel fifteen to twenty feet deep, to which they sink apit, and if they meet with a thin hard crust of ferruginous stones or muses of milk quartz, such are always favourable signs. The ruby, amethyst, topaz, sapphire, tu and einnnon-stone are found there in great Rhine! mince; also spinel, chrytoberyl, and corundum. I I ted, purple, blue, yellow corunthmis and star-stones are met with at Matlitira and Saffraettm, and rubies and sapphires at Badulla and Saffragam. Cor rundum is very plentiful at Batt:kg:unmet, on the banks of the river Agiri Kandura. The great bulk of the Ceylon gems, however, come from Rat napura, the city of gems, the river near which is regularly worked. Ceylon affords also all the varieties of quartzose minerals, as rock - crystal, amethyst, rose -quartz, cat's eye, and prase. Rock-crystal occurs in abundance, both massive and crystallized, of various colours, good quality, and in large masses. Amethyst also is pretty abundant; very beautiful specimens of this mineral are found in the alluvion derived from the decom position of gneiss and granitic rock at Saffragam and the Seven Korles. A large crystal of it was found near Buanwelle, containing apparently two distinct drops of water. The finest cat's eyes iu the world, indeed the only kind that bring a high price, have been found in time granitic alluvion of Saffragam and Matura. Prase occurs only amongst the pebbles on the shore of Trincomalee. Belonging to the schorl family are tourmaline and schorl.
Corundum. The pure oxide of aluminium is seen in colourless crystals of corundum. With minute traces of colouring materials, these crystals assume rich hues, and when transparent become gems conspicuous for their extensive colonr-suite, that rank next in value, as in lustre and hardness, to the diamond. These aro the colourless lux sapphire, the azure sapphire. the niby, the oriental topaz, oriental amethyst, oriental emerald, etc.
Star-Stones are in the form of a six-rayed star, and there are star-rubies, star-sapphires, and star topaz. Emery is one of the forms of the opique, granular, massive states of this mineral.
Oriental Ruby is the most valuable of all gems. when of large size, good colour, and free from flaws. They are found in Siam, the Galician mountains ten days' journey from Syriam, a city in Burma, also in Ceylon, India, Borneo, Sumatra, on the Elbe, on the Espailly in Auvergne, and leer in Beheinia. The ruby in colour varies from the lightest ro,e tint to the deepest au-mine, but the most valuable tint is that of ' pigeon's blood,' a pure deep rich red.
Spinel Ruby and Batas Ruby belong to the spinet class of minerals, as also are several of the atones sold as Ceylon rubies. Tourmaline, when of a red colour, is called Brazilian ruby, and this term is also applied to the artificially coi 1 oured topaz. The ruby brings a higher price than the diamond, ranging as per margin. Star Rubies are asteriated corundums. Tourmaline is sometimes mistaken for the ruby, and the pink topaz for the balas ruby.
Spinel ruby and balas rubies are found in Ceylon, Burma, Mysore, Baluchistan. The spinel ruby is of a deep hue. They are comparatively of little value, but are often sold for the true ruby, and the true ruby is occasionally parted with as a spinel ruby. With jewellers, however, every bright red mineral takes the name of ruby. The name is even given to garnets. Hindus and Muhammadans in India greatly object to the dark coloured stones, deeming them unlucky.
Sapphire with the ancients was a generic term for all blue gems. It occurs in British India, in the south of the Peninsula and Ceylon, also in Ladakh and in Siam. Sapphires vary from the deepest blue to black, and are often of varied hues. If held in water with forceps, the coloured and uncoloured stones will be seen. A very good blue sapphire of one carat weight would bring £20.
In Tavernier's time, in India all rubies were sold by weights Called rati,—that is, three grains and a half or seven-eighths of a carat ; the payments were made in old pagodas ; and rubies of the following weights had been sold as under : Of 1 rati, . . Page. 20 Of 4R rati, . . Page. 450 Of 2 rati, . . „ 85 Of 5 rati, . . „ 525 Of 3t rati, . . „ 185 Of 6i rati, . . „ 920 If a ruby exceeded six rati, and was a perfect stone, there was no value to be set upon it.
Tavernier says (p. 143), ' The other place where rubies are found is a river in the island of Ceylon, which descends from certain high mountains in the middle of the island, which swells very high when the rains fall ; but when the waters are low, the people make it their business to search among the sands for rubies, sapphires, and topazes. All the stones that are found in this river are generally fairer and clearer than those of Pegu. I forgot to tell you that there are some rubies, but more balas rubies, and an abundance of bastard rubies, sapphires, and topazes found in the moun tains that run along from Pegu to the kingdom of Camboya.' Oriental Emerald, the green variety of corun dum, is the rarest of all gems. The finest occur in a limestone rock at Muzo in New Granada, near Santa Ed de Bogota, lat. 5° 28' ; at Odontchelong in Siberia, and, as is said, near Ava. It is associated with spinel. When of a deep rich grass-green colour, clear, and free from flaws, it sells at from £20 to £40 the carat; those of lighter shade, from 5s. to 115 the carat. The emerald pillars in the temple of Hercules at Tyre, the emerald sent from Babylon as a present to a king of Egypt, four cubits in length and three in breadth, and the emerald obelisk described by Herodotus, were all doubt less green jasper. The Aral and Altai mountains have furnished fine emeralds.