Chap. I.] GEMS. 35 



" elephants' footsteps") gems are frequently found in 

 groups as if washed in by the current. 



The persons who devote themselves to this uncertain 

 pursuit are cliiefly Singhalese, and the season selected 

 by them for "gemming" is between December and 

 March, when the waters are low.^ The poorer and least 

 enterprising adventurers betake themselves to the beds 

 of streams, but the most certain though the most costly 

 course is to sink pits in the adjacent plains, which are 

 consequently indented with such traces of recent ex- 

 plorers. The upper gravel is pierced, the covering 

 crust is reached and broken through, and the neUan 

 being shovelled into conical baskets and washed to 

 free it from the sand, the residue is carefully searched 

 for whatever I'ounded crystals and minute gems it may 

 contain. 



It is strongly characteristic of the want of energy in 

 the Singhalese, that although for centuries those alluvial 

 plains and watercourses have been searched without 

 ceasing, no attempt appears to have been made to explore 

 the rocks themselves, in the debris of which the gems 

 liave been brought down by the rivers. Dr. Gygax says : 

 " I found at Hima Pohura, on the south-eastern decline 

 of the Pettigalle-Kanda, about the middle of the descent, 

 a stratum of grey granite containing, with iron pyiites 

 and molybdena, innumerable rubies from one-tenth to a 

 fourth of an inch in diameter, and of a fine rose colour, 

 but spht and faUing to powder. It is not an isolated 

 bed of minerals, but a regular stratum extending pro- 

 bably to the same depth and distance as the other 

 granite formations. I followed it as far as was practi- 

 cable for close examination, but everywhere in the 

 lower part of the vaUey I found it so decomposed that 

 the hammer sunk in the rock, and even bamboos were 

 growing on it. On the higlier ground near some 



' A very interesting account of I Wm. Stewakt, appeared in the Co~ 

 Gems and Gem Searcliing, by Mr. | lomho Observe)' for JimC; 1855. 



D 2 



