478 On the Corundum Stone from Afia. 



Page IT.7.. 13. " '^ella convlndum. Fort St. George, Mr. Bulkley. 'Tis a talky fpar," 

 grey, with a caft of green : it is ufed to polifh rubies and diamonds." 



In Dr. Woodward's Additional Catalogue of Foreign Foflils, publifhed in 1725, p. 6. 

 ^10. " Nella corivendum is found by digging at the foot, or bottom, of hills, about five 

 hundred miles to the fouthward of this place.. They ufe it as emery, to clean arms, &c. it 

 ferves alfo to grind rubies, by making it like hard cement, by the help of ftick lac mixt with 

 it; Eaft-India. Mr. Bulkley." — ^Thefe, with a few others in Woodward's Catalogues, are 

 t!ie only inftances by which any author, prior to 1768, appears to have noticed this fubftance. 



This information being unfatisfa£tory, and every appearance of the ftone indicating it to 

 be part of a ftratum, I wrote repeatedly to friends in India, to afcertain, if poffible, the fitua- 

 tion of the rock, and if near the fea, to fend a confiderable quantity as ballafl:, with a view 

 of applying it to cut and polifli granites, porphyry, and other ftones, which the high price of 

 cutting and polifliing excluded from ufeful or ornamental work. But my inquiries at" 

 Madras were fruitlefs : by fome I was.aflured it came from Guzarat. From Bombay I ob- 

 tained no fatisfadory information. At laft, in the year 1793, I obtained a fatisfadtory ac- 

 count. Sir Charles Oakley was difpofed to oblige me : he was tlien Governor of Madras - 

 and his fuccefs is due to the aftivity and judgment of Mr. Garrow. 



Mr. Garrow knew how difEcult it was to avoid the caufes of my failure, from every 

 Hindoo being occupied by the duties of his call ; fcarcely thinking on any thing elfe, and 

 wherever his interell is concerned, being fufpicious and referved. Mr.. Garrow, in the firft 

 place, afcertained the caft conneded with corundum, to be the venders of glafs bangles ; that 

 they ufed it in tlieir bufinefs, and fold it to all other cafts. This caft of natives at all times 

 liad free accefs to every part of Tippoo's country ; nor until the diftrids about Permetty 

 ■were ceded to. the Englifh, could it be procured in any other way. Mr. Garrow depended 

 ■ on his perfonal infpedion ; the particulars are contained in tlie following letter communi- 

 cated to me by Sir Charles Oakley. 



Sir CHARLES OAKLEY, Bart. 



" Sir^ Tritchinopoly, loth Nov. 1792. 



" I derived fo little fatisfaftion from the various accounts given me of the corundum, 

 from the indifference of the natives to every fubjed in which they are not immediately in- 

 terefted, that I refolved to afcertain the particulars I wifhed to know,' on the fpot where the 

 ftone is found. The glafs-men agreed in one material circumftance, that the. place was not 

 far from Permetty : in other particulars they difagreed, apparently with intention to miflead. 



" It is near a fortnight fince I difpatched a fervant I could depend on to Permetty, with 

 one of thefe people, who on his arrival there, probably through fear of his caft, faid he 

 knew no farther. My fervant perfevered, and informed me- he had found tlie place I wiflied 

 to lee. ■- ■ ■ • ■ "--^ .' 



*' I arrived at Permetty, by the route of Namcul, the 6th ; and leai^rng'tRat the diftance 

 to the fpot was about 3^ hours, or 14 miles, I left Permetty in time to arrive there about fun- 

 rife the next morning. At this time no perfon but my fervant was prefent, and from a con- 

 tinued excavation at different depths, from 6 to 16 feet, in appearance like a water-courfe, 



. „ ■ i ■■ .. -' I running 



