S74 SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTION OF PRECIOUS STONES 



the weight of the one was reduced from 37 to S^^ carats and of the other from 47 to 

 38/^ carats. The native lapidaries are for the most part settled at Amarapura near 

 Mandalay. 



Almost all the Burmese rubies which now come into the market are found in the district 

 around Mogok. Valuable stones, however, are reported to have been found in the river 

 gravels of the Nampai valley near the village of Namseka, which lies fifteen miles south-west 

 of Mainglon (Fig. 54), in latitude 22° 46' N. and longitude 96° 44' E. Assuming this 

 occurrence to be a fact, Dr. F. Noetling explains it by supposing that the gravels in this 

 outlying district have been washed down from the ruby-bearing area by the Mogok stream 

 when in flood. At the time of Dr. Noetling's visit a large excavation had been made in 

 these gravels ; in them he found spinel, tourmaline, &c., but his search for rubies was 

 unsuccessful. 



A second ruby district in Upper Burma, less important, however, than Mogok, exists in 

 the neighbourhood of Sagyin, twenty-one miles north of Mandalay. Here a range of low 

 hills built of crystalline limestone rises up out of the alluvial plain of the Irrawaddy, 

 itself two miles distant. This white marble is for the most part overlain by red clay ; it is 

 niuch creviced and penetrated by caves, and indeed in all respects closely resembles the 

 mai'ble of Mogok. The ruby has here two modes of occurrence. In places in which the 

 marble contains few or no embedded rubies, its crevices are often filled up by fragments of 

 the same rock, rich in rubies and firmly cemented together. In other cases the crevices and 

 caves in the limestone are filled, just as at Mogok, with brown clayey material produced by 

 the weathering of the limestone. In this are found the precious stones together with other 

 minerals, namely, ruby, sapphire, red and black spinel, amethyst, brown chondrodite, very 

 pale blue apatite in small grains and crystals, reddish-brown mica, &c. The precious stones 

 are separated from this weathered material by washing. A more systematic working of the 

 deposits would be likely to yield better results. The rubies found here are sometimes said 

 to be paler and inferior in quality to those from the Mogok district, but this statement is 

 disputed by many observers. 



It is asserted that rubies have been found, associated with spinel and as usual embedded 

 in granular limestone, at a place further north, near the village of Nanyetseik, between 

 Mogaung and the jadeite mines of Sanka; also at still another locality on the Upper 

 Irrawaddy. The position of these two localities may be seen from the map (Fig. 55) ; the 

 occurrence of ruby here is, however, decidedly doubtful. According to native reports, rubies 

 and spinels occur in the limestone of two hills lying a little to the north of the Sagyin Hills. 

 It may be mentioned finally that during the construction of the railway from Rangoon to 

 Mandalay, abandoned ruby mines were met with near the town of Kyoukse, about thirty 

 miles south of Mandalay. 



The occurrence of rubies in Siam has been long known, but it is only recently that the 

 deposits have been carefully investigated and systematically worked. Prospecting for 

 precious stones in this country was for long rendered impossible or, at least, extremely 

 difficult by the exercise of royal and official privileges. Now, however, an English 

 company, known as " The Sapphires and Rubies of Siam, Limited,'" has obtained a 

 concession of mining rights in this country. Details of the work are given by Mr.E. 

 W. Streeter in his book, Precious Stones and Gems. 



Though some of the Siamese rubies equal those of Burma in beauty, the majority are 

 very dark in colour and generally inferior. The mines are situated in the provinces of 

 Chantabun and Krat ; a few rubies are found also in the sapphire mines of Battambang, 

 south-east of Bangkok (Fig. 54). 



