GEM DISTRICTS OF CEYLON AND BURMA—ADAMS 301 
occupies a position identical with that of the gold gravels in many 
alluvial gold regions. 
The searching for gems is a highly speculative operation and is 
usually carried out by a group of native workmen on shares. ‘The 
owner of the paddy field gets one-fifth of any profits, the man who 
finances the operation another fifth, the remainder going to the men 
who carry out the actual work. After selecting a likely spot to sink 
a pit, the ground is tested from time to time as the work proceeds by 
driving down into it a long steel bar sharpened and tempered at the 
point. By pushing this down and twisting it around an experienced 
operator can tell on examining the bar after withdrawal at what 
depth below the surface the illam occurs, its thickness, and probable 
character. When the point of the rod passes through the illam and 
strikes the underlying decomposed bedrock, which looks like French 
chalk, the clay will be found adhering to its point, and if the surface 
of the rod is scratched this would indicate the presence of quartz or 
corundum pebbles or fragments in the gravel. 
To get the illam out it is necessary to sink a small shaft or pit. 
In order to prevent the mud from flowing down into the pit, the 
latter is lined by a series of vertical poles driven down into the mud, 
behind which are laid branches of trees, sticks, or palm leaves. A 
man, sometimes with an assistant, works at the bottom of the pit 
shoveling the clay into a small bamboo basket, which, when filled, he 
throws deftly upwards and is caught by a man at the surface, who 
empties out its contents, then throws the basket down into the shaft 
again. When the pit gets deeper a third man sits on a transverse 
pole placed across the shaft from side to side and catches the basket 
thrown up by the man at the bottom of the shaft and in his turn 
throws it up over his head to the man at the surface. In this way all 
the clay is taken out and the shaft is sunk to the illam. This in its 
turn is then brought to the surface and is placed by itself on a clean, 
flat piece of ground prepared to receive it. The men engaged in 
these operations wear no clothes except a loin cloth and carry on an 
animated and evidently humorous conversation with one another, 
giving the whole operation the appearance of a pleasing pastime. 
If the weather is hot a rude shed, roughly thatched, is built over 
the opening of the shaft to give shade to the workers. 
As the paddy field is usually wet, it becomes necessary to keep the 
pit free from water, which is done by bailing it out by means of an 
old kerosene oil can attached by a rope to a long pole balanced be- 
tween two upright members, the whole resembling the device used for 
raising water from wells in many parts of French Canada. (PI. 1.) 
It may be mentioned in passing that the kerosene can is employed 
throughout the Far East for a most amazing variety of purposes 
and affords a humble but convincing evidence of the widespread 
