34 



PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY. 



[Part T. 



some places are used by lapidaries in polishing the 

 softer stones, and in sawing the elephants' grinders 

 into plates. The cook of a government officer at 

 GaUe recently brought to him a ruby about the size 

 of a small pea, which he had taken from the crop of a 

 fowl. 



Of late years considerable energy has been shown by 

 those engaged in the search for gems ; neglected dis- 

 tricts have been explored, and new fields have been 

 opened up at such places as Karangodde and Wera- 

 loopa, whence stones have been taken of unusual size 

 and value. 



It is not, however, in the recent strata of gravel, nor 

 in those now in process of formation, that the natives 

 search for gems. They penetrate these to the depth of 

 from ten to twenty feet, in order to reach a lower 

 deposit distinguished by the name of Nellan, in which 

 the objects of their search are found. This is of so 

 early a formation that it underhes the present beds of 

 rivers, and is generally separated from them or from 

 the superincumbent gravel by a hard crust (called 

 Kadua\ a few inches in thickness, and so consohdated 

 as to have somewhat the appearance of laterite, or of 

 sun-burnt brick. The nellan is for the most part hori- 

 zontal, but occasionally it is raised into an inchne as it 

 approaches the base of the hills. It appears to have 

 been deposited previous to the eruption of the basalt, on 

 which in some places it rechnes, and to have undergone 

 some alteration from the contact. It consists of water- 

 worn pebbles firmly imbedded in clay, and occasionally 

 there occur large lumps of granite and gneiss, in the 

 hollows under which, as weU as in " pockets " in the 

 clay (wliich from their shape the natives denominate 



was valueless, but tlie appearance of 

 tlie sand was veiy inviting, as the 

 shallow stream in rippling over it 

 magnified the tiny gems into stones 

 of some magnitude. I passed an hour 



in vainly searching for a ruby worth 

 collecting, but the largest did not 

 exceed the size of a mustard seed." 

 — BAKEE'si?«)?e and Hound in Ceylon, 

 p. 181. 



