CORUNDUM (RUBY) : OCCURRENCE IN CEYLON, INDIA, AFGHANISTAN 277 



occurrence being in the proportion of about two to one. Good specimens of both are rare, 

 the rubies being pale in colour and lacking in lustre, while the sapphires are opaque and 

 dull. 



The Burmese method of working the deposits is very simple. Small parties of three 

 or four men working together sink a pit, usually about 4 feet in diameter, through the 

 surface of the gem-bearing gravel. This they remove in baskets, leaving undisturbed all 

 boulders too heavy to lift. The mines give employment to about 200 men, whose work 

 consists of excavating the gem-bearing gravel, washing away, in the usual manner, the 

 lighter earthy portions, and picking out from the residue any gems it may contain. 

 Stones to the weight of about 500,000 carats are produced annually ; their aggregate 

 value is, however, no more than from £2000 to ^£"3000, so much of this weight being of 

 inferior quality. 



In the gem-sands of the island of Ceylon (Fig. 59) a few rubies, together with 

 a far larger number of sapphires and other gems are found. Many stones preserve 

 distinctly the outlines of their original crystalline form, which agrees completely with that 

 of the rubies of Burma (Fig. 53, a — d) ; others occur as rounded grains. The gem-bearing 

 sands lie on the hill-sides above the present high-water level of the streams, and also on the 

 floors of the river valleys. The neighbourhood of Ratnapura and Rakwana and the district 

 about the foot of Adam's Peak are specially rich. Though it is said that fine rubies of 

 good colour, equal to or better than those of Burma, are sometimes found in Ceylon, yet, 

 as a general rule, Cingalese rubies are pale in colour and not of very great value. The 

 occurrence of sapphire in Ceylon is of far more importance ; it will be treated in detail in 

 its appropriate place. According to Tennant, the mother-rock of the ruby in Ceylon, as 

 in Burma, is a crystalline dolomite limestone or marble, which occurs in situ near Bullatotte 

 and BuduUa. The mother-rock of the sapphire is probably different, as we shall see later ; 

 this is thought to be gneiss. 



The mainland of India, though so rich in common corundum, is very poor in the 

 precious variety. A few stones suitable for cutting have been found with common corundum 

 in Mysore and in the Salem district of Madras ; also in the alluvium of the Cauvery river, 

 which flows into the Bay of Bengal some distance south of Pondicherry. The occurrence of 

 the precious stone in the sands and gravels of this river bears a striking similarity to its 

 occurrence in the river alluvia of Ceylon. The ruby has been stated to occur in the gravels 

 of other Indian rivers ; in many of these cases, however, it is probable that the supposed 

 ruby is in reality garnet, a stone which is widely distributed in India. Many of the rubies 

 preserved in the treasuries of Indian princes have probably been brought from Burma or 

 from Badakshan, a locality for ruby which has yet to be mentioned. 



In Afghanistan permission to work the ruby mines near Jagdalak, thirty-two miles 

 east of Kabul, has been obtainable from the Amir since the 'seventies. The rubies found 

 here lie in micaceous crystalline limestone ; many show a distinct crystalline form, which 

 is identical with that of rubies from Burma. These stones were originally described as 

 being spinel, but specimens which have come to Europe have been proved to be indubitable 

 rubies. The occurrence of ruby in this locality is strikingly similar to its occurrence 

 in Burma; as in Burma and Ceylon, so probably in Afghanistan also, spinel occurs 

 associated with the ruby. 



A ruby of 10| carats was brought to Europe by a traveller from Gandamak, a place 

 about twenty miles from Jagdalak, and in latitude about 34?^° N. and longitude 70° E. 

 Nothing further as to this occuiTence is known, and it is possible that both place-names 

 refer to i the same occurrence. 



