MAfiCH 1, 1886.) THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



503 



SPINEL AND GOLD AT WARRIArOLLA. 



From Mr. Fraser ot WairiapoUa, near Matale, 

 we hare received the following imeiestiiig letter : — 

 WarriapoUa, Matale, 'iHh Jan. HHO. 



Dear Sir, — It is curious how a coinciilence takes 

 place, and I now write to tell you thai it was not 

 until today, when I came in with a collection of some 

 very peculiar and pretty coloured ijuartzy lime rock 

 (of which I had for long known the existence, 

 but had only regarded as a mere freak of Nature, 

 and had laid down as the foundation ot some 

 hiuulreds of yards of road) for the purpose of 

 forwarding these stones to some friends, I happened 

 to take up the Oh.tfrver, and my eye rested on 

 the article you give in your edition of the 'itith 

 January, mentioning WarriapoUa as a spot where 

 s|jinel had been found. It abounds here in large 

 quantities, and until today I never knew it had 

 any value. Once I found a piece of the size of 

 a robin's egg and I asked a JficflU-r in Matale (if 

 you can call these people by that ti'im) what it 

 was, and he told me that it was a ruby. My 

 weak mind was unable to accept this statement, 

 not liaving seen a blue ruby. I also found red 

 crystals imbedded with the blue, but these I took 

 to be the garnet — and so with no more thought 

 on the matter the coolies continued building yards 

 and yards of roadway with this sparkling stuff, 

 and it has been all covered over with metal and 

 gravel and lost to view. But the locality from 

 which this bedding stone was gathered will still 

 be found to abound in these bright blue crystals 

 if they be searched for. 



Mr. W. Tytler first notice<l the peculiar crystal 

 formation as ot value when he was stayhig with 

 me, and he showed me several other places where 

 he thought precious stones must have been col- 

 lected on the estate. A Sinhalese tells me now 

 that I am reclaiming land which used in former 

 days to be a rich source of precious stones to the 

 natives who, after heavy rains, used to wash the 

 sand of the river close to its banks, and they 

 undoubtedly did obtain .something, for otherwise 

 I should not possess, as I do at the present time, 

 a sm.all packet of gold du t, which years ago was 

 washed out ot the sands of the Wariyajjola-oya, 

 and sent to my father as a proof that gold existed 

 in Ceylon, and on WarriapoUa al.so. lam told by 

 natives that this very portion of the river of which 

 I now speak of was a continual scene of gem- 

 hunters, and I myself have seen Moormen amusing 

 themselves, as I thought catching tish. They may 

 have found some other kinil of tish, let us hope 

 they did ; for, at least, that, for a time, would keep 

 them out of mischief.— Vours faithfully, 



KoBEiiT H. Fraser. 

 It is no new experience, in raineralogical form- 

 ations, that gems should be found associated with 

 gold. So it was in Australia, and in that country 

 roads were made and streets paved with rich gold- 

 bearing ([uartz, a full generation before the Laird 

 of WarriapoUa indulged in the luxury of bottoming 

 his roads with spinel-bearing limestone, including 

 probably, " fuU many a gem of purest ray serene." 

 Mr. Fraser does not say how he ultimately dis- 

 posed of that gem as big as a robin's egg. If 

 perfectly translucent, uniformly blue and flawless, 

 it would, probably, when properly cut, have been 

 deemed aa valuable as a red specimen of the same 

 mineral, to which the name spinel ruby is given. 

 Mr. Fraser, like Mr. Kellow, and probably a good 

 many others, wiU now Uuow what blue cryttals iu 



limestone mean and will keep a good look-out lor 

 large clear specimens of the gem, for gem it is, 

 only second in value to the sapphire, when 

 of eiiual purity and size. Of course, such gems 

 are more easily got at in the bed^ of strearii,, into 

 which they have been washed than in tluMiiatrix, 

 which nuist be mined and carefully broken up. On tho 

 other hand, regular mining may result in nuieh larger 

 and more regular thids of precious crystals, and, where 

 the latter are not [irceious in the technical sense, 

 their presence in (juantity ought to give value to 

 the stone as a marble. We mean to see how a 

 hand specimen will polish, and we are sanguine 

 that it will come out well. The result will be stated. 

 Much of the country around Kandy, such as 

 liaragani and the valleys of Dumbara and Matale, 

 doubtless owe much of their fertility and probably 

 a good deal of their insalubrity (for which Haragani 

 and HajaweUa were at one time notorious) to the 

 large prevalence of crystalline limestone, and the 

 soil and gases which result from its decomposition. 

 Careful examination in the light of Mr. Kellow's 

 recent discovery and Mr. Dixon's previous notice 

 of the WarriapoUa and Watagama formations, will 

 probably establish the fact that a much larger 

 proportion ot our mountain limestones than 

 any oi us imagined are valuable as gem-bearers, 

 apart from their varying, but in some cases rich, 

 proportion of carbonate of lime. Of course, i( ig 

 not gold which gives the beautiful golden coloun to 

 iron pyrites, but it is a fact that true gold is not 

 unfreciuently associated with ivon pyrites. It is not our 

 limestones alone which demand the careful examin- 

 ation of a mineralogist, such as is now employed by 

 the neighbouring (iovernment ot Madras, but our 

 quartz rock, some of which, especially on Mr. 

 Blackett's property in Dolosbage, look very en- 

 couraging. Now that it would seem that gold in 

 really paying quantities is being mined close by 

 us, in Southern India, it would be well that the 

 similar iiuestion in Ceylon should be settled once for 

 all, even if in a sense the reverse of the existence of 

 paying quantity. Our mountain limestones, which 

 dilf<-r from and are economically less valuable than 

 coral and shells, in consequence of the sometimes 

 large amount of magnesia they contain, associated with 

 carbonate of lime, are usually described as " beds 

 overlying the gneiss " which is our principal 

 primitive formation. But the truth seems to be 

 that, very frequently, long veins ot the limestone 

 underlie the top ranges of gneiss, cropping out amidst 

 tho valleys and " foot hills." This will become 

 apparent, on reference to Mr. A. C. Dixon's ac- 

 count of the principal dolomite beds or veins, 

 which intersect the mountain system of the in- 

 terior of the island : — 



Ikilniititehf(h. As far as! have been able to trace them 

 during the time at my disposal, I find that these beds 

 run through the gneiss in a somewhat parallel direction, 

 striking generally N. W. by N. to N., and having 

 various angles of dip from 1(3' to ■lO''. 



I have indicated their position on the map. The 

 first is one which outcrops a few miles this side of 

 Balangoda, and runs N. N. W., occurring again at 

 Hanuwala. 



The second runs through Dolosbage and Maskeliya ; 

 probably the bod occurring at Bilhuloya is continuous 

 with tills. 



The third outcraps under the Great Western on the 

 Great Western estate, and is continuous to the 

 N. N. W. with the Wattogoda and Medakumbura 

 doloaiit<^s, and probably also with tlie beds at Giimpola 

 and Kuruucgala. .\ subsidiary bed —or it may be an 

 outlier of this — occurs near tho i'usaellawa rest- 

 house. 



The fourth bed oulcroiw largely at Wilson's Buuga- 

 'lOW, Glen Devon, Dumbara and Matale, 



