76 Beport on the Exhibition of Gems. 



of Sydney, that I owe the communication, and that he him- 

 self has verified every item in his statement, I trust I shall 

 not be considered as travelling out of my legitimate limits 

 in allowing him to speak for himself of the products of New 

 South Wales. He writes : " Now, as to the gems in New 

 South Wales, they are no doubt numerous, but are chiefly 

 confined to the gold-fields. In my book on the southern 

 gold-fields I have appended two notes, in which you will see 

 mention of some that I had met with at the time of publica- 

 tion. I sent you a copy of the book a few days since. 

 Lately we have had found more diamonds about the same 

 locality, Suttor's Bar on the Macquarie River. None of them 

 are of considerable size. Sapphires red and blue, both dark 

 and light coloured (I have also seen the star ruby), and 

 topaz are very common, and some of the latter are of large 

 size, but water-worn. Almandine garnet is not uncommon. 

 The common garnet is abundant." 



" Chrysolite is very common. Clirysober^d has also been 

 found ; and near Cooma, in gi-anite, I once found a fragment 

 of an emerald. A II the varieties of quartz have been found, 

 including amethyst. 



" In the Uralea River, New England, the amount of sap- 

 phire and ruby is enormous. The diggings there are in 

 granite detritus, over granite and under basalt. 



" We have tin crystals and water- worn corundum in abun- 

 dance. I have seen a hlue tourmaline, also epidote proper ; 

 and the magnesian variety also occur here. Among other 

 things in this way 1 have procured very beautiful 12 

 dodecahedral crystals of gold. Zircon, hyacinth, &c., have 

 also been found by me." 



This list informs us that some very fine stones have been 

 found, at least in their substance, whatever may be their 

 individual value as gems, in New South Wales, and in the 

 southern gold-fields. Chrysolite, chrysoberyl, and the star 

 ruby are all valuable, and the last-named one is probably 

 beyond all price, as compared with gold, if it be found of 

 considerable size and strength of colour. All the recognised 

 beauty of the ruby is enhanced by the grand chatoyant play 

 of light, and the peculiar beauty of the six-rayed star. 



We have here to deal with a class of men who are, for the 

 present, in Egyptian darkness on all these matters ; and we 

 must bear in mind that the readiest way to enhghten men is 

 to place under their eyes standards of comjDarison, and those 

 well authenticated. The late exhibition showed clearly 



