1835.] Geology of the Bombay Islands 295 



state of a lump-sugar appearance, which, when fractured, 

 exhibits minute, slender, silky-like crystals, disposed in a 

 radiated form. 



Carnelian may be procured in the bazaars, brought from 

 Cambay, where it seems to exist in considerable abundance. 

 It appears that the specimens of this mineral which are 

 worked into ornaments, are principally obtained from the 

 neighbourhood of Broach, by sinking wells in the dry 

 seasons in the channels of torrents, at the bottom of which 

 they are found lying in the form of round nodules, inter- 

 mixed with other rolled pebbles, probably forced by the 

 impetuosity of the mountain streams from greater eleva- 

 tions, and generally weigh from a few ounces to two or 

 three pounds. 



Some of them are red, others pink, but the most delicate 

 and beautiful is certainly the colourless or opaline variety. 

 There can be little hesitation in affirming that similar sources 

 of this mineral exist in the beds of the numerous streams 

 which abound between Bombay and the Ghauts, and which 

 add so materially to the grandeur of this romantic region. 



A beautiful variety is brought to Bombay, containing 

 elegant arborizations resembling the ramifications of in- 

 closed mosses, a phenomenon which in many instances 

 appears to be justly attributable to such a cause. # 



Bloodstone, or oriental jasper, as sold in the town by the 

 Parsees, appears also to be imported from Guzurat, and 

 the adjacent territories. It is characterized by presenting 

 a greenish appearance, with numerous blood-red streaks or 

 veins traversing it in various directions. It is to the latter 

 species, or to the mock pearls so frequently employed as 

 ornaments by the inferior castes, that we are to refer the 

 expression of the historian of Alexander : " lapilli ex auri- 

 bus pendent." f But with regard to the " Gemmas marga- 



* The remark of Pliny, " Infestantur plurimis vitiis — aliis ' capillamentum 

 rimze simile," with regard to rock-crystal, refers to the presence of Titanite. 

 Hist. Nat. Lib. xxxvii . c. 2. 



The same naturalist ohserves of rock-crystal, " Oriens ethane mittit, sed Imlic.p 

 nulla praefertur." Hist. Nat. xxxvii. 2. Which is ignorantly denied by Garcias 

 ab Orto, who was for several years Viceroy of India. He says " Nullo autem 

 ex praedictis loco crystallus invenitur quemadmodum nee per universam Indiam." 

 Hist. Arom. et Simplic lib. i. c. 47, p. 171. 



t Quint Curt lluf. 1. viii. c. ix. 



