244 Lieut. Newbold on (he Beryl Mine of Paddioor. 



ignorance of their use. Judging from the high barren situation 

 in which I found them, these excavations could hardly have 

 been made for wells. Blocks of the cleavlandite, which forms 

 the matrix of the gem, had been thrown out, and evidently 

 broken up in search of what it might be supposed to contain. 

 The excavations were shallow, but extensive, and the quan- 

 tity of the broken up gangue very large ; it (the cleavlandite) 

 can be traced in the rocks in the vicinity to an extent, east 

 and west, of about thirty-eight miles ; and it is likely that, in 

 ancient times, antecedent to Mahomedan conquest, when rights 

 to landed property were more secure, the gem was obtained 

 in abundance. Now, the surface veins appear to be completely 

 exhausted in all the excavations I examined ; but it is proba- 

 ble, from the inquiries I made, that it is still secretly procured 

 by natives from certain localities in this district, as it still 

 forms an article of traffic in Indian bazaars. It has been 

 thought, with some reason, that the largest crystallized Beryl 

 ever known, weighing six ounces, and costing L.500, and 

 which was supposed to have been brought to Europe from 

 Ceylon, was the produce of the Beryl mines of Coimbatoor, 

 as neither Davy, nor any of the authors conversant with the 

 mineralogy of Ceylon, mention its existence on that island. It 

 has been stated positively that it does not occur there. 



To Mr Heath the merit is due of having first brought these 

 mines under the notice of government. Mr Fisher, the enterpri- 

 sing land-proprietor of Salem, informed me that the gem was 

 first discovered by the diggers of a well on the estate of the 

 village Potail, who sold them secretly to the itinerant jewellers 

 and chittys, who purchased them in large quantities for a mere 

 trifle, and sold them at an immense profit at Madras, Pondi- 

 cherry, and other European settlements. This, coming to Mr 

 Heath's knowledge, afibrded a clue by which he was enabled 

 to trace the beryl to its situs. He lost no time in obtaining 

 the conditional consent of government, and arranging with 

 the native owner of the land. Mining operations were carried 

 on for about two years, and were discontinued in consequence 

 of the mines being exhausted, and the expense of draining off 

 the water. It has now (1840) reverted to its original purpose 

 of irrigation, and is still the property of the Potail who origi- 



