390 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Although it is not intended to mention here all the known engraved 

 or carved rubies which aro^ recorded, still it may he of interest to state 

 that there are two small figures of Buddlia carved out of a ruby 

 and a sapphire, respectively, in the British Museum. 



B,uhies, too, have been cut into rings, thus : — " In the second year 

 of his reign, Shah Jahangir was presented by Shaikh Parid-i-Bukhari 

 with an immense ruby made into a ring, which weighed 1 misqual, 

 15 surkhs, and was valued at 25,000 rupees."^ 



Lord Auckland possessed an emerald ring engraved with Jahangir' s 

 name in the year 1880, 



A Burmese ambassador to Persia had a ring with him as a present 

 from the King of Burmah for the Shah. Hoop, collet and all, were 

 cut out of one solid and perfect ruby of the first water. ^ 



I do not propose to enumerate here the large rubies which in the 

 sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, found their way to 

 Europe ; but there are many references to rubies of exceptional size 

 in the writings by native authors, and among them the following : — 



" Raja Earn Chand Bhath of Chunagarh presented Akbar (?a.h. 

 991) with a most valuable tribute of 100 rubies and other precious 

 stones. The value of one of the rubies exceeded 50,000 rupees."^ 



" In the year 1015 a.h. (1606 a.d.) Asaf Khan presented a ruby 

 to Jahangir (which his brother Abu-1-Qasim had bought for 40,000 

 rupees, and sent to him), as a pesh-Iiash, on his appointment as Wazir."* 



"In the year 1015 a.h. (1606 a.d.) Jahangir relates that he pre- 

 sented a ruby Avorth 25,000 rupees to his son Parwiz.^ ' On the 21st 

 of the same month I presented Parwiz with a necklace of four rubies 

 and one hundred pearls.' '"^ 



In the year 1616, according to Sir Thomas lloe, the Portuguese 

 offered the Emperor Jahangir a balass ruby, weighing 13 tolas, or 

 5i oz. (=783 carats), for 5 lakhs of rupees. He would only give one 

 lakh for it.' 



' See Blochmann, " Ain i Akbari," Calcutta, 1871, p. 414. 



- See Wills, " The Land of the Lion and Sun," Lond. 1883, p. 376. 



3 "Taiikh-i-Badauni," Elliot, "Hist, of India," vol. v. p. 531. 



* See " Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri," Calcutta, Lowe, 1889, p. 87. 



* See " Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri," by Lowe, Calcutta, Bib. Ind. p. 63. 

 « Id., p. 65. 



■» See "Travels," London, Trubner, 1873, p. 32. 



