SAPPHIRE AND GARNET 



GEM-STONES 



MINOR 

 Garnet 



being valued at 4 lakhs of rupee* (26,666). In the following year (1900) the 



\ ,HM.- nf tint atones raised increased to 97,3*26, und the Company paid a dividend 



of 17} per cent. The year 1901 showed the record output of stones, valued 



at 104,470, whilst in 1902 they brought 86,895. In the last year (1903) the 



i . any'* r.-< -i-i|its were 98,575, and profits on the year's working 44,950." 



Barboea, Coasts E. Africa and Malabar (ed. Hakl. Sue.), 1866, 168 ; 



loten, Voy. E. Ind., 1598 (ed. Hakl. Soo.), 1885, i., 80, 97; ii., 138-41, 

 I.".! I ; Thovenot, Travels in Levant, Indoatan, etc., 1687, pt. Hi., 112; Ovington, 



<umtt.. 1(189, 201, 585; Milburn, Or. Comm., 1813, i.. 300; ii., 288-9; 

 Ol.tlmm. Man. Econ. Geol. Ind., 1893, 45; Min. Rev. Ind., 1894, 18; 1895. 41 ; 



10 1 ; 181(7,39-40; Kept. Rev. and Admin., Burma, 1895-6,98-9; Ward 

 ami -Judd, Proc. Roy. Soc., 1896, 57, 387-94; Max Bauer, Jahrb. f. Min., 1896, 

 ii.. l'.t7-238; Scott, 'Oaz. Upper Burma and Shan States, 1900, ii., pt. 1, 213-7 ; 

 I'.Mil. ( ,t. '2, 144, 342, 392; Bonnet Brough, Mining of Non-Metall. Min., in 

 Journ. Soc. Arts, Jan. 15, 1904, 172-3.] 



DJ8.P., 



vi., pt. ii., 



^' a 



5. Sapphire. Ball, Man. Econ. Geol. Ind., 1881, iii., 429 ; Latouche, 

 Xnfifihire Mines of Kashmir, in Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind., 1890, xxiii., pt. 2 ; 

 Miilillciniss, Sapphirine-bearing Rock from Vizagapatam, 1904, xxxi., pt. 2, 

 38-42 ; Holland, Rev. Min. Prod. Ind., 1905, xxxii., pt. 1, 109. ThemJam, 

 kabud, neela-hgmet-kha, ouk thapha-ya, etc. 



Source*. The sapphire is a transparent variety of corundum or native 

 alumina, composed of oxide of alumina with traces of other substances to which Composition. 

 its colour is due. The colour varies from the palest blue to deep indigo, while 

 violet, yellow and green varieties are also met with. Both dark and light varieties 

 are described by Garcia do Orta (1563, Coll., xliv.), who says the latter are 

 called safira de agua (water sapphire) and that both varieties are found in 

 " Calicut, Cananor and in many parts of the kingdom of Bisnager." Ball (Rev. 

 of Garcia de Orta, in Proc. Roy. Ir. Acad., 1889-91 (3rd ser.), i., 664), comment- 

 ing on this subject, states that he has no definite information as to the former 

 workings of sapphire deposits in India. In recent years the chief source of 

 sapphire was at Zanskar in Kashmir, but the mines are now said to be exhausted, gmhmjr, 

 According to Holland (I.e. 109), the normal blue sapphire and rarer green, yellow 

 and white varieties are occasionally found in the ruby-bearing gravels of Burma. 

 [Cf. Tavernier, Travels, 1676 (ed. Ball), 1889, ii., 102, 465, 470 ; Thevenot, I.e. 

 99 ; Lawrence, Valley of Kashmir, 1895, 60-1 ; Min. Rev. Ind., 1895, 41 ; 1896, 40 ; 

 1897, 40 ; Bennet Brough, I.e. Jan. 14, 1904, 172.] 



6. Spinel. Ball, I.e. 429-31 ; Holland, I.e. 109. Spinel. 

 The spinel or Balas ruby differs from the true Oriental ruby by containing 



a considerable percentage of magnesia with traces of chromium and iron oxide. 

 In hardness it is also inferior to the true ruby, of which it is a constant associate 

 and for which it is frequently mistaken. [Cf. Tavernier, I.e. ii., 102, 467.] 



7. Topaz. Ball, Man. Econ. Geol. Ind., 1881, iii., 530-1. D.E.P., 



A fluo-silicate of alumina always containing a 'little essential water, and vi., pt. iv., 



occurring only in metamorphic rocks or in the veins which traverse these. Of 70. 



its occurrence in India there seems no authentic record. [Cf. Linschoten, Voy. Topaz. 

 E. Ind., 1598 (ed. Hakl. Soc.), 1885, i., 80 ; ii., 138 ; Tavernier, I.e. ii., 129, 449.] 



8. Turquoise. Ball, I.e. 435. D.E.P., 



The existence of the true turquoise in India is doubtful. Holland remarks vi., pt.iv., 

 that its only importance lies in the fact that India is one of the channels by which 204. 

 the material procured in Persia and adjoining areas reaches the European and Turquoise. 

 Eastern markets. The art of manufacturing and colouring imitation turquoise 

 has become a science with the traders in these stones. Recently a new industry 

 has arisen in Kashmir in ornamenting metal wares with a layer of false turquoise 

 embedded over the surface (Watt, Ind. Art. at Delhi, 1903, 50, 75). [Cf. Lin- 

 schoten, I.e. ii., 141 ; Tavernier, I.e. ii., 103 ; Milburn, Or. Comm., 1813, ii., 

 543 ; Bennet Brough, Mining Non-Metall. Min., in Journ. Soc. Arts, Jan. 14, 

 1904, 174.] 



//. MINOR OEMS. 



9. Garnet. Ball, Man. Econ. Geol. Ind., 1881, iii., 521-4 ; Holland, Garnet. 

 Orig. and Growth of Garnets, etc., in Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind., 1896, xxix., pt. i., 



05'J 



