Ball — On the Colloquies of Garcia Be Orta — II. 669 
stone that resembles the emerald,^ and it maybe that the piece that is 
in Genoa which is said to be emerald is really of this stone. And the 
Genoese speak as they wish, because I was given in Ealagate a cup for 
two hundred pardaos : and if it had been emerald they would not have 
given me the thousandth part of it for that money, such is the value of 
the emerald there. I have told you of the beryl when speaking of the 
diamond, that a very large quantity of them are found in Cambaia, 
Bisnager, and Ceylon, and many other places. The chrysolite is found 
in Ceylon and the amethyst also. In Ealagate of the Mzamoxa 
(Nizam Sha) these stones are found and many others.^ The stone 
called by us alaqecca^ and by the Arabs quequz is valued at an arratel 
cut in small pieces for a Spanish real, and this stone possesses more 
virtue than all the others, for it staunches the blood very quickly. 
R. The cat's- eye appears to me very good ; where does it come 
from ? 
0. The finest are found in Ceylon, and are more highly prized there 
than in Portugal. I have seen one brought from Ceylon to Portugal, 
which in Ceylon was valued at six hundred cruzados, and yet in Portu- 
gal no more than ninety were o:ffered for it. And this stone was brought 
back to Ceylon and sold for its proper value. Therefore you must not 
take any of these stones from here to Portugal as merchandise. 
E. "What properties has it ? 
0. The people of this country say that it has the power of preserv- 
ing a man in his riches, so that he shall not lose any of what he has, 
but yet may increase it. 
^ Jade ? from Karakash, the yu of the Chinese. 
2 Note on the Beryls found in Cambay, Martaban, Fegu, and Ceylon. — The most 
famous heryl mines of India were situated at Kangiam in Coimbatore, and from 
thence it is not improbable that the famous Vaidura stones were derived, of which 
mention was made as early as the sixth century in the " Brihat Sanhita" (see, 
however, Max Miiller in " What India can Teach Us," p. 266). 
Beryls are found occasionally in other parts of India, but not so far as I am 
aware in Cambay. In Burmah they have been obtained in the bed of the Irrawadi. 
The beryl or aquamarine of Kangiam was sometimes of large size, though perhaps 
not equalling the huge crystals of late found in America : one I have seen, which is 
now in the Museum of the Boston Natural History Society, measures upwards of 
3 feet in diameter. 
Possibly beryls, found elsewhere, were cut and polished by the lapidaries of 
Cambay. As for Ceylon I have no information of the occurrence of beryl there, 
but chrysoberyl is one of the recognized productions of the island. The chrysolite 
which is mentioned may perhaps be topaz rather than peridote ; the latter does not 
occur in Ceylon. 
3 Alaquecaiov AVaMk, Arab., carneHan, bloodstone. 
