302 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1926 
peaceful penetration of the most remote eastern lands by western 
influences. 
When all the illam in the pit has been brought to.the surface the 
miners proceed to wash it. This is carried out, if possible, in one 
of the streams running through the area. The writer was fortunate 
enough when at Palmadulla to find a party engaged in washing 
illam and to join them in this, the most exciting part of the game. 
A few stakes had been driven down into the bed of a small rapidly 
flowing stream and some branches of trees laid across them so as to 
partially dam back the water at the place where they desired to wash, 
thus giving a greater depth of water Four or five Singhalese men, 
naked except for their waist cloth, were lined up across the stream 
in the water, which was some 3 feet deep; each was provided with 
a shallow basket closely woven of strips of split bamboo. The 
baskets are circular and measure about 214 feet across at the top, 
the sides sloping down in a parabolic outline to the bottom point, 
somewhat similar in shape to the pans used in Brazil for washing 
alluvial gold. Other men brought down to the workers in small 
baskets the illam, which is then washed in the same manner as alluvial 
gold. The washing, however, is not carried as far as in the case of 
gold, the object being to wash away all the mud and leave the gravel 
behind in the basket. When this is done the basket is brought to 
the shore. When half a dozen of these baskets, containing the 
washed gravel are ready, another man, expert in the recognition of 
gems, takes the baskets and examines them carefully in succession. 
The basket is tilted up so that the sun shines upon the gravel which 
it contains, the man squatting down in front of it places his hands 
together, raises them in the rapid invocation of the “powers” to 
give him good luck, and, with rapid circular motion, goes over the 
gravel with his right hand, sweeping the surface layer down toward 
him into the side of the basket next to him. This process is con- 
tinued until all the gravel has been sorted over. Squatting down 
beside the operator the whole process was clearly seen. The large 
gems, if any, are met with first in the coarse gravel near the top 
of the mass. By keeping a sharp lookout, any gem present can be 
detected by its color and transparency. In the six baskets which we 
examined there were three fragments of sapphires of good size; one 
of them was of fairly good color and would yield, when cut, a stone 
of commercial value, the other two had little or no commercial value. 
As these were found they were at once handed to the man who acted 
as the banker of the little group working this claim, and who care- 
fully watched the proceedings to be certain that no gem which was 
found was secreted. As the sweeping process continued the gravel 
became finer and finer in grain and at one stage showed a red color 
due to the presence of a large number of minute red garnets. When 
