1889-] A Naturalisfs Rambles in Ceylon. 705 
sessed by that of Sumatra. The first to point this out was Prince 
Lucien Bonaparte (Proc, Zool. Soc. London, 1849), and Prof. 
Schlegel, of the University of Leyden, has since confirmed the 
identity of the Ceylon elephant with that found in the Lampongs 
of Sumatra. According to a Singhalese tradition, Ceylon, in a 
very remote past, formed part of a huge continent which con- 
nected Africa with China. 
The precious stones, for which Ceylon has been celebrated 
from time immemorial, are found in the sand and gravel of the 
rivers. Most of these rivers — and Ceylon possesses quite a 
number of them — have their source in the central mountain 
district. The gems occur in a natural state as constituents of the 
garnetiferous gneiss, which is prominently developed in Adam's 
Peak, Newera Ellia, and neighboring points. The gradual dis- 
integration of these gem-bearing masses, through aqueous and 
atmospheric agencies, leads to the freeing of the gems, which 
are washed out and precipitated along with other detritus by the 
mountain torrents during heavy rains, thus finding their way 
into the various river-beds, in which they roll for miles, and are 
gradually worn off or smoothed into roundish pebbles. The 
most celebrated of these gem-rivers is the Kalu-Ganga, which 
has its source near Adam's Peak, and flows into the sea about 
midway between Point de Galle and Colombo. On this river, 
and about twenty miles distant from Adam's Peak, is the ancient 
town, or Singhalese village, of Ratnapoora (literally, " the city of 
rubies.") Here is the headquarters of the Ceylon gem trade, 
so far as the native business is concerned ; here gems have been 
dug, or washed out of the river mud for two thousand years, 
and here they are still found in the same profusion. The 
river in olden times appears to have been much broader, ex- 
tending for more than a quarter of a mile beyond either of its 
present shores, and anyone digging within that region to a depth 
of six or seven feet comes to the so-called " gem gravel," viz., the 
ancient river-bed, in which are found rubies, sapphires, topazes, 
cats-eyes, garnets, cinnamon-stones, — in fact almost every known 
variety of gems except the diamond, which, so far as I know, 
has never yet been found on the island. 
