Report on the Exhibition of Gems. 79 



interesting reflections, which carry the mind beyond the 

 limits of Australia, and nnite us with the most remote 

 quarters of the globe. We have here, then, the peculiarities 

 of India and South America displayed in our diamond mines. 

 The blue sapphires take us to Ceylon and the East Indies. 

 The gTeen sapphire is a distinctive mark of Siam, and yet 

 we have shown Victorian specimens equal to any known. 

 The star sapphires have, perhaps, never been found in any 

 other country save Ceylon, while some of its varieties found 

 here seem altogether new. The ruby is almost peculiar to 

 Ceylon and Pegu, and now to Victoria, Queensland, and some 

 parts of New Zealand. The topazes of Victoria — blue, white, 

 and pink — connect us in mineralogy with Brazil, Ceylon, 

 India, North America. Whether the pink topaz be a genuine 

 formation, or only a brown one altered by heat, this is not 

 the place for discussing; but certain it is, that pink 

 topazes have been found in our mines and cut by our 

 lapidaries, while neither a brown nor a yellow topaz has yet 

 been discovered. Adhuc sub judice lis est. 



Perhaps no country in the world has excelled Victoria in 

 the size, perfection, and beauty, of the blue and white topaz. 

 And when they are comparatively so abundant and so cheap 

 in their cut state, and so beautiful as ornaments, am I wrong 

 in speaking in the most unmeasured language of contempt 

 of the trumpery materials mounted in colonial gold in ques- 

 tionable taste, and imposed on the ignorant public for the 

 genuine products of our mines, and the result of the skill of 

 our lapidaries ? 



Catalogue of Gems, in their natural state, found and collected hy 

 Geoege Milner Stephen, Esq., Fellow of the Geological 

 Societies of London, Germany, and Cornwall, Natural History 

 Society of Dresden, &c., (tc. 



1 (2) Diamonds (the larger exceeding 1 carat), found with 11 



others in Finn's Claim. District, Ovens. 



2 (2) Barkly-ite rubies (red corundum). Ovens. 



3 (2) White sapphires (in hexagonal crystals, one having blue 



terminal planes). Ovens. 



4 (1) Yellow sapphire (in purple hexagonal crystal, a rare 



specimen). Ovens. 



5 (4) Dark blue sapphires. Ovens. 



6 A green star sapphire (rare). Ovens. 



7 A blue and white sapphire (in hexagonal crystal). Ovens. 



