\ 



Ball — Description of two large Spinel Rubies. 388 



HlSTOMCAL EngKAYED RuBIES. 



"With the object of, if possible, tracing tbe past history of the 

 two rubies under notice, it is necessary to consider some of the state- 

 ments as to rubies in the Mogul's and in the Shah's treasuries and 

 elsewhere, which have been recorded by writers. 



An early notice of a monster ruby is to be found in "Elliot's 

 History of India," vol. ii. App. 454. Haji Muhammad states that 

 one weighing 450 mishhals ( = say about 10500 carats), the like of 

 which had never been seen before, was obtained in the plunder of the 

 temples of Thaneswar by Mahmoud of Ghazni, in the year a.h, 405 

 (a.d. 1011). This sounds like a fabulous weight. 



I do not think it worth while to refer here to the exaggerated 

 stories by Varthema, Marco Polo, and others, as to monster rubies in 

 Eurmah, Ceylon, &c., as they have no direct connection with the 

 present subject. 



The term " balass," often used in the accounts of rubies, was 

 derived originally from Balkh, in Badakshan, where there are ancient 

 spinel-ruby mines. In my edition of Tavernier's " Travels " I have 

 dealt with the ascribed origins of this name, which is now applied 

 by jewellers to rubies of a particular hue, not, exclusively at least, 

 to spinels. There is reason for thinking that many of the large 

 historical spinels, both of the East and Europe, may have come from 

 the locality in Badakshan, or possibly even from Afghanistan, rather 

 than from the better known localities of Ceylon and Burmah. 



The following extract^ is one of the earliest references by a 

 European to this region : — 



Timur " caused all the Meerzas and nobles in the land of 

 Samarcand to come to this festival ; amongst whom was the lord of 

 Balaxia, which is a great city ^ where rubies are procured, and he 

 came with a large troop of knights and followers. 



" The ambassadors went to this lord of Balaxia, and asked him 

 how he got the rubies, and he replied that near the city there was a 

 mountain whence they brought them, and that every day they broke 

 up a rock in search of them. He said that when they found a vein, 

 they got out the rubies skilfully, by breaking the rock all round with 



^ Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavigo to the Court of Timour at Samarcand, 

 A.D. 1403-6. See Hak. Soc, p. 162. 



^ In. the remote mountains of Badakshan there are the richest known mines of 

 rubies and lapis-lazuli. 



