CORUNDUM (RUBY): OCCURRENCE IN BURMA 273 



King Theebaw at Mandalay at the time of the British conquest of Upper Burma, and 

 are now preserved in the Indian section of the Victoria and Albert Museum at South 

 Kensington. 



In 1886, when Burma became part of the British Empire, the monopoly of the ruby 

 mines by the natives came to an end. In the neighbourhood of Mogok work on a large 

 scale was carried on first by an Anglo-Italian and then by an English company. In return 

 for the concession of mining rights the Indian Government demanded from the company a 

 yearly payment of four lacs of rupees (about ^£"25,000), and from each native miner at first 

 twenty, and afterwards thirty, rupees. It would appear from the fact that attempts have 

 been recently made to get the payment reduced, that the operations of the company have not 

 been altogether successfid. Not content with working the alluvial deposits of the valleys in 

 which rubies have been searched for for centuries, the company has also tapped the ruby- 

 bearing deposits on the Pingudaung Mountain, near Mogok, and on the Kyuktung Mountain. 



The " byon " yields not only ruby but also other colour- varieties of precious corundum, 

 namely, sapphire, " oriental topaz," &c., common corundum, and frequently precious spinel. 

 Beside being the most valuable and beautiful of the different varieties of corundum the 

 ruby is here also the most abundant, about 500 rubies being found to one sapphire, and 

 other colour-varieties of precious corundum are still rarer. The unequal proportions in 

 which ruby and sapphire exist in these deposits is partly counterbalanced by the much 

 greater size of the crystals of sapphire. The majority of the rubies found here do not 

 exceed ^ carat in weight, and large stones, when found, are often full of all kinds of faults. 

 Flawless stones of 6 to 9 carats are rare, and very few reaching a weight of 30 carats have 

 ever been found. 



In the year 1887 a stone of 49 carats was found, and in 1890 one of 304 carats. The 

 discovery in earlier times of two stones of 172 and 400 carats has been reported. The two 

 most beautiful rubies found here were sold in Europe by the King of Burma in 1875. Both 

 were of a magnificent colour, and before they were re-cut weighed 37 and 47 carats. After 

 being re-cut in Europe they sold for ^10,000 and ^£"20,000 respectively. Cloudy corundum 

 unsuitable for cutting as gems because of its lack of transparency, occurs in much larger 

 pieces, some of which have weighed over 1000 carats. A stone of this description weighing 

 1184 carats is figured by Streeter. This, together with other stones of exceptional size, was 

 found since the English occupation of the country. On the whole, the proportion of large 

 rubies found recently in the mines of Burma seems to have increased, but in almost every 

 case these large stones are unfit for cutting as gems. 



The colour of the rubies of Upper Burma is, as a rule, some shade of deep red. In that 

 country the shade most admired is pigeon's-blood red. Stones of this colour, transparent 

 and free from faults, command high prices even at the mines. Rubies of a poorer tone of 

 colour are also found, but not as frequently as in Ceylon, where they predominate over the 

 stones of deeper shades. 



When found embedded in its original matrix, namely, the white crystalline marble, the 

 ruby has always a regular and well-developed crystalline form, diagrams of which are shown 

 in Fig. 53, a to d. When found in the gem-earths this symmetrical form is not always 

 missing, though, as a rule, rubies from this deposit are irregular in outline, while those 

 picked out of the alluvial sands of the river valleys are usually much rounded. It is the 

 custom among the natives not to sell a ruby in its natural form, but to give it some 

 artificial shape or another, usually quite irregular and not calculated to enhance the natural 

 beauties of the stone. Such specimens have to be re-cut in Europe. The two large rubies, 

 for example, which came to Europe in 1875 were roughly cut en cabochon. By re-cutting 



