On. the Mineralogy of the Island of Ceylon. 169 
vices, and which are covered in their turn by yellowish 
sand, 
It-was in this blackish earth, at the depth of 18 feet, that 
the elephant’s jaws and teeth were found, There was also 
a skull found, but it was broken by the workmen, and I am. 
in possession of the pieces of it, as well as other bones of 
the ox kind, and, in particular, a very remarkable skull of 
a large and unknown species of antelope, which I shall de- 
scribe afterwards. The upper yellow sand contains plenty 
of fresh-water shells; but the black earth only contains 
green clay and yellow marle. The ivory is much decom- 
posed; the jaws less so, and the other bones not at all. The 
most part of them, indeed, do not seem to have been rolled 
about at all. 
{To be continued. ] 
XXVIII. Letter of Dr. DE Carro fo Professor Picrer of 
Geneva, on the Mineralogy of the Island of Ceylon*. 
i. Vienna, Feb. 17, 1806, 
Hayixe requested from the governor of the English set- 
tlement at Ceylon, the favour of some information upon the 
mineralogy of that island, accompanied if possible with 
some specimens of minerals, his excellency governor North 
had the goodness to transmit to me the subsequent note of 
M. Jouyille, the only mineralogist in the island. 
«Columbo, July 5, 1805. 
«© The only person who is occupied in the mineralogical 
department of Ceylon has not yet discovered the gems in 
their matrices. All those he ever saw were found in cur- 
rents. There are no others im the market. It is very rare 
to meet with well preserved and determined crystallizations ; 
we saw, however, the oriental stone corundum in the state 
of a lengthened pyramid, and the spinel rubies in very small 
ectaédral crystals. The tourmaline and the schorl are also 
* From Bill, Britan, des Sciences et Arts, vol. xxxit. p. 281. 
found 
