Ball — A Geologists Contribution to the History of India. 99 



Turquoise (Firuse) — Obtained at Nishabar, Ghasna (? Q-hiiznee), 

 Irak, Kerman, Chouresm, the first being the most valued. There, 

 is, therefore, no Indian locality : such seems to be still the case. 



Talc (Sitarei semin = star of the. earth) — Two kinds — one found 

 in the air (? superficially), and the other in mines. Mahomed says 

 — " artificial pearls are made from it, and it does not burn or calcine 

 with fire. If you dissolve it and rub the limbs with it, it makes 

 them fire proof. Talc can neither be pounded in mortars nor broken 

 to pieces with hammers. The way to dissolve it is to boil it with 

 beans; to wrap it then in a piece of linen. If dissolved talc is 

 mixed with a little resin and sajffiron, and used as ink, it makes a 

 gold ink, and, without saffron, silver ink." 



Rock Crystal (Bellor). — Of this two kinds are mentioned, one 

 being clear, and the other dark-yellowish. The added statement 

 that they can be melted like glass, and then coloured so as to 

 imitate the yakut, laal, or emerald, is unintelligible, since rock 

 crystal by itself is a most infusible substance. Perhaps what is 

 meant is, that siliceous sand was used in the manufacture of the 

 glass or paste of which false stones were made. 



Mahomed says that at Grhasna, there were four crystal vessels, 

 each of which could contain two skins of water. He mentions 

 that crystals of other minerals and wood (probably crystals of 

 tourmaline) often occurred enclosed in the bellor. Some fanciers, 

 we are told, prefer the Arabian to the Indian variety. 



Amethyst (Dschemst) — Four kinds : (1) deep rose-colour and 

 sky-blue; (2) pale rose-colour and deep azure; (3) pale rose- 

 colour and sky-blue. It was much esteemed by the Arabs. 

 Mahomed does not refer to its occurrence in India, but states that 

 it was obtained near the village of Safwa, three days' journey from 

 Medina. Wine drunk out of a goblet made of amethyst does not 

 intoxicate, upon which Mahomed's translator remarks : — " This 

 opinion was also current in Europe, and the name dsehem or 

 dschemsshid is connected with it. The Grreek word afjuOvaTor also 

 means " unintoxicated," but it is originally derived from dschemest, 

 as the jasper from Jasche^) ; hyacinth from yakut ; emerald from 

 SemejTud ; pearls (Margarita) from merivarid ; turquoise from 

 firuse; lapis-lazuli from ladschwerd ; sardonyx from sard; talc 

 .from talk; chalk from A-a/s." 



Emerald (Semerrud). — Seven varieties or different shades are 



