January. 1915. 



KNOWLEDGE. 



or overlooked. It has been found to be expedient 

 to erect washing apparatus in whatever locahty 

 the digging is being carried on at the time, instead 

 of hauling the byon from all directions, and for 

 great distances, to a central plant. 



The native miners who work on their own account 

 have next to no apparatus, and their few mining 

 implements are of the most simple and primitive 

 kind ; yet a great amount of successful work is 

 done by their means. Figures 1 and 2, which 

 accompany these paragraphs, are made from photo- 

 graphs of water-colour paintings by Burmese 

 artists. They are interesting, not only on account 

 of the quaint manner in which they are painted, 

 but for the accuracy with which they depict the 

 work upon which the figures are employed. 



The queerly shaped gentleman with the tattooed 

 legs is hammering in the corner-posts of a pit, 

 and another man at the opposite side of the picture 

 is bringing timber to shore up the walls of a pit. 

 The figure in the right-hand corner is bringing 

 tufts of grass to stuff into the cre\-ices between the 

 beams, and another is seen with a basket washing 

 earth in the water. The long, swinging poles, 

 with cords, and weighted \\'ith baskets of stones, 

 are used as cranes, and are similar to those of the 

 " gemming parties " of Ceylon, by means of which 

 the earth is hoisted from the pits to the surface 

 (see Figure 2). 



A tool which is not, however, illustrated in the 

 pictures consists of a huge wooden squirt, and is 

 used to get rid of surplus water from the gem pits. 



One of the pictures shows how the hillside 

 streams are diverted, so that the water is caused 

 to pour down on any vein of byon which may be 

 exposed on the surface (see Figure 1). 



The native miners, who are Burmans and Shans 

 (see Figures 3 and 4), make a fairly good living 

 by bartering the stones, and in this business 

 they are not only shrewd, but very speculative. 

 They purchase largely from the auction sales of 

 the company, which take place every two weeks ; 

 and it is no uncommon occurrence for them to 

 hazard a large sum on the chance of a stone of 

 doubtful quality turning out to be of value. The 

 officers of the company, however, make a rule of 

 deprecating any tendency to gambling of this kind 

 among the natives, as it eventually leads to dis- 

 satisfaction. 



As the sales of the company take place in Mogok 

 (see Figure 5), which has for centuries been a 

 native market for the stones, this town may be 

 considered the centre or chief market for rubies 

 of the world, and it is \dsited by buj'ers from India, 

 China, Europe, and America. 



Within the last few years, however, a good deal 

 of the trade has shifted from Mogok to Madras 

 and Trichinopoli. The gems of choice quality 

 which are found by the company are consigned 

 to the London offices for disposal in Hatton 

 Garden. 



Owing to the extreme scarcity of important 



rubies and the rarity of even moderately good 

 ones, it has been found that the only way to make 

 the gem-mining of Burma pay its way as a com- 

 mercial concern is to secure and market a very 

 large quantity of gems of medium quality and 

 lower grades. 



Some specimens of coloured corundum, when 

 cut en cahochon, that is, with a smooth, convex 

 surface, and at a certain angle of the crystal, 

 display a six-pointed glimmering star of reflected 

 light. No matter of what colour the stone may be, 

 the shining rays which diverge from the centre of 

 it are in all cases colourless, or nearly so. 



These gems, which are known as " asteria," or, 

 more popularly, as " star-stones," are, if of choice 

 quality, highly esteemed on account of their rarity 

 and beauty. The blue ones are also often called 

 "star-sapphires" and the I'cd "star-rubies," and 

 the latter are found in Bin-ma. 



In company with the rubies are found a good 

 many spinels — a mineral which may be any one 

 of many colours, and which, when red, somewhat 

 resembles the ruby, in which case it is often called 

 " spinel-ruby " — and also some pale sapphires 

 of little importance. 



From most remote times the red spinels, or, as 

 they are also called, " balas " rubies, have been 

 to some extent confused with the true rubies, and 

 they are catalogued as " balases " in the con- 

 temporary inventories of jewels of the early 

 Middle Ages, and continue to be mentioned in 

 similar ancient documents of the Renaissance 

 period and later times. 



A well-known instance of this is the list of Queen 

 Elizabeth's jewellery. 



The enormous red stone of irregular shape and 

 convexity belonging to the regalia of Great 

 Britain, and worn in the State Crown, which is 

 known as the " Black Prince's Ruby," is, as a 

 matter of fact, a balas ruby, or red spinel. 



This " fair ruble, great like a rocket ball," was 

 given to the Prince, from whom it takes its name, 

 after the battle of Najara, by"^Petro, the cruel 

 king of Castille, and it was worn in the helmet of 

 Henry V at Agincourt. At some distant period 

 it has been drilled entirely through the length of 

 the stone, but the ends of the bore have, in more 

 recent years, been plugged with small stones of 

 the same colour as the large stone. 



The spinel is one of the three jewel-stones 

 occurring in the form of crystals, which are singly 

 refractive, the other two being garnet and diamond. 



The ancient system of issuing mining licences 

 to the natives of Burma is still continued, the com- 

 pany being entitled, by agreement with the 

 Government, to grant such pri\aleges for payment, 

 provided that a certain proportion of the fees thus 

 obtained be handed over to the authorities. 



The result of this arrangement is satisfactory, for, 

 owing to there being plenty of space, the natives 

 carry on their work successfully, without inter- 

 fering with the enterprise of the company, which. 



