278 



SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTION OF PRECIOUS STONES 



Fig. 57. 



Ruby mines in Badatshan on the Upper Oxus. 

 (Scale, 1 : 6,000,000.) 



The ruby mines of Badakshan were famous in olden times, and they supplied 

 some of the vast store of treasure amassed by the Great Mogul. They are situated 



(Fig. 57) in Shignan, on the bend 

 of the Oxus river, which is directed 

 to the south-west, in latitude about 

 37° N. and longitude 71 i° E. They 

 lie between the upper course of the 

 Oxus and its right tributary the 

 Turt, near Gharan, a place the 

 name of which is said to signify 

 "mine," sixteen miles below the 

 town of Barshar, in the lower, 

 not the higher, mountain ranges. 

 This locality is by no means a 

 familiar one, and reports as to 

 the mode of occurrence of the 

 ruby here are very conflicting. 

 According to one they are found 

 in a white earth ; according to 

 another in a red sandstone ; while 

 yet a third states them to be found in a magnesian limestone. From analogy with the 

 Burmese occurrence, the last-named mode of occurrence seems the most probable. 



Rubies are said to have been found formerly in these mines in large numbers, and 

 associated with the variety of spinel known as " balas-ruby.'" Marco Polo, who visited the 

 mines in the thirteenth century, states that the output from them was strictly limited by the 

 ruler of the country in order to keep up the value. Part of the output was paid away as 

 tribute to the Mongol Emperor, another part to other rulers, while the remainder was put 

 into the market. The yield appears to have fallen off in later times, till in the end work 

 was altogether discontinued. It is stated that the mines were reopened in the year 1866 ; 

 whether they are being worked at the present day or not is unknown, but, according to a 

 recent report, they are practically exhausted, and give employment to only about thirty 

 persons, the few stones that are found being the property of the Amir of Afghanistan. A 

 stone the size of a pigeon's egg is said to have been found here in 1873. 



It is possible that the rubies and spinels which have recently come into the market 

 through Tashkent, and which, according to the merchants, were mined in the Tian-Shan 

 Mountains, are in reality from these same mines. There is no reliable information as to the 

 existence of ruby mines in the Tian-Shan Mountains or in Tibet, so that the 2000-carat 

 ruby recently received by Streeter, and said to be from Tibet, may also have been found in 

 these mines on the Oxus. 



Compared with the importance of the occurrence of ruby in Asia, that in all other 

 parts of the world is insignificant. 



In Australia rubies of small size have been found in the gold-sands sometimes 

 associated with the diamond, never, however, in large numbers. Such occurrences have 

 been noted in the sands of the Cudgegong river (Fig. 43), in a few of its tributaries near 

 Mudgee, and at a few other places in New South Wales. In Victoria the gold-sands of 

 Beechworth and Pakenham have yielded rubies. In all Australian ruby localities, however, 

 this stone is very much less common than the sapphire. Moreover, red garnets have been 

 mistaken for rubies time after time. Thus, many years ago, an abundant occurrence of 



