356 Oriental Accounts of [Au 



G. 



blue ; asmdni, azure; nili, indigo; chaklz, grey or colly rium ; and 

 sabzi, greenish. 



The third or oriental topaz, a. yaqut-asfar or zard, h. pokhraj, 

 has four tints, viz. narinji, orange ; kdhi, straw ; shamdi, flame or 

 lamp ; and turanji, citron-colored. This variety is said to stand the 

 fire better than the others. 



If the yaqdt akhzar, or oriental emerald, be esteemed the fourth 

 variety, then there is a fifth, " of more variegated tints but of less 

 value," comprising probably such as are not transparent, common co- 

 rundum, adamantine spar, salam [silan, or ceylon~\ atone ? &c. 



G ladwin translates yaqtit and yaqdt surkh as " topazes," in his Eng- 

 lish version of the Ayeen Akbery ; the yaqiit rumani (written rahmdni 

 in the MS. belonging to the College of Fort William) and the yaqdt 

 k a bud he calls the " sapphire :" and on one occasion he renders the yaqdt 

 surkh, " amethysts :" showing the confusion which prevails on the 

 subject of these gems. That different species of the corundum, however, 

 were intended by all, is evident from a table of specific gravities quot- 

 ed by Abu Fazl from a work of Abu Rihan-al-Birouni, which closely 

 agrees with modern results, and proves that the term Id I (hereafter to 

 be noticed) is confined to the Halas or spinelle ruby : the table reduced 

 to decimal expressions is as follows : 



Name of Jewel Spec. Grav. Spec. Grav. 



J ' by Abu Rihan. by European tables. 



Yaqdt rumani, 3.98 C oriental sapphire, .... 3.97 Mohs. 



Yaqdt stirkh, 3.75 £ ruby, topaz, &c 3.90 do. 



Ldl, 3.52 spinelle ruby, 3.52 do. 



Zamarud, 2.75 rhombohedral emerald, 2.73 do. 



Bilor, 2.50 rock crystal, 2.58 do. 



The Jawdhir-nameh includes among the varieties of yaqdt, the dyn- 

 ul-hireh (cat's eye) and the turmali, from which latter word may, 

 perhaps, be derived our tourmaline, though applied by us to a 

 different mineral. 



The dyn-ul-hireh (h. lahsunia) is evidently that variety of the sapphire 

 which mineralogists designate chatoyant, or opalescent sapphire, and 

 which, when cut en cabochon, shews a silvery star of six rays, and is 

 then termed asteria. This must be distinguished from the common 

 cat's-eye, a chatoyant variety of quartz with which it has probably 

 been confounded by the oriental jewellers. Pliny also adverts to the 

 two minerals : of the first he says, " proxima candicantium est as- 

 teria : nata est in Karmania, &c." and he distinguishes it from an infe- 

 rior sort of astrioSy resembling common crystal, w hich comes also from 



