July i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
producers of every artiole of commerce. If the 
gems can be sold on the spot for the equivalent 
of their value in London it would be very advan- 
tageous indeed for the Company, and add immensely 
to the profits of the concern. It would be difficult 
to oonceive anything which could be less of an 
objection than this idea of prices obtainable on 
the spot, equalling those in London. Again costly 
European supervision would have to be exercised 
over the miners working in detached pits, "there 
can be no mining in the ordinary acceptation of 
the term such as could admit of the workmen 
being closely observed and searched as they left 
work." Perhaps this is the most extraordinary of 
all the absurd reasons given why a Company 
should not be formed for Ceylon. There is no 
imaginable reason why " thei\ e 1 be no mining 
in Ceylon in the ordinary acceptation of the term." 
Surely the writer is not serious in thus insinuating 
the deduction that a Company would be content to 
go pricking little holes here and there in the sur- 
face of the country and imitating the natives in 
their petty endeavours to find a royal road to 
fortune. No man in his sober senses could sup- 
pose that any Company of Europeans would be 
content to operate on such a petty scale. " Min- 
ing in the ordinary acceptation of the term " would 
be the object of such a Company and the whole 
bulk of gem bearing land would be turned over 
and washed and made to yield the whole of its 
store of precious stones, which would be dealt with 
locally or in the European markets accordingly as 
circumstances dictated. The supposition of a Com- 
pany imitating the existing mode of native working 
is too absurd to merit further comment. 
The final objection made by the writer (whose 
remarks are under comment) only serves to show 
how entirely ignorant of the country he must be. 
He says: "Gems in Ceylon are not found in parti- 
cular veins admitting of organized working. The 
precious stones of that island are various in 
character and are scattered in a very diffused 
manner, so that no parallel could be established 
between the ruby yielding strata of Burma and 
the gem pits of Ceylon." Now, as a matter of fact, 
there are well-known and well-defined gem produ- 
cing strata in the gemming districts of Ceylon, — 
strata into which all these " detached pits are 
sunk," and which it has been ascertained in many 
places run high up over the hills at great distances 
from any stream bed of the present day. It would 
have been quite correct had it been asserted that 
in addition to well-defined strata producing gems — 
there are numerous precious stones scattered- in a 
very diffused manner over a very great portion of 
the island. To those who are at all conversant 
with gemming operations in the island, — these 
strata are well-known as " Illan," — and for those 
whose lot has precluded a practical acquaintance 
with the subject, the work entitled " Gold, Gems, and 
Pearls, in Ceylon and Southern India," will afford 
a very great deal of useful information. 
By way of establishing a parallel between the 
'uby-yielding strata of Burma and Ceylun : Emerson 
Tennent's " Ceylon " has the following statement: — 
" The most remarkable of these gem-bearing 
deposits is the flat country round Balaugoda, south- 
east of Katnapura ; but almost every valley in 
communication with the rocks of the higher ranges 
contains stones of more or less value, and the bedB 
of the rivers flowing soul h ward from the mountain 
chain are so rich in comminuted fragments of 
rubies, sapphires, and garnets, that their sands in 
some places are UBed by lapidaries in polishing 
the softer stones, and in sawing the elephants' 
grinders into plates." 
Mr. Baker (now Sir Samuel Baker) thus describes 
the sands of the Menikganga (jewel-river) near 
the ruins of Magama in the south-eastern extremity 
of the island : — " The sand was composed of mica, 
quartz, sapphire, ruby, andjacinthe; but the large 
proportion of ruby sand was so extraordinary that 
it seemed to rival Sinbad's story of the vale of 
gems. The whole of this was valueless, but the 
appearance of the sand was very inviting, as the 
shallow stream in rippling over it magnified the 
tiny gems into stones of some magnitude. I passed 
an hour in vainly searching for a ruby worth 
collecting, but the largest did not exceed the 
size of a mustard seed." 
Now perhaps it will be said " this surely goes 
against the argument that gems of value are 
found in abundance in Ceylon ;" yet " Mr. Streeter 
in denying the adverse criticisms passed upon 
the ruby mines ventuie, says as an example of 
the productiveness of the property, a ton of gravel 
which reoently arrive in England from the mines, 
produced 1,800 carats of ruuies, valued from a 
farthing each upward." This may mean a great 
deal, — or it may mean next to nothing at all. If 
it means a great deal we may be sure a very great 
deal more would have been said about it, and the 
enormous value of the outturn commented upon 
in glowing terms. But as the statement now stands, 
without further explanation, it really has no mean- 
ing whatever, no useful or definite deduction can 
be drawn from it, at any rate by the uninitiated 
in such matters. If any large proportion of this 
ruby gravel from Burma is now worth only a 
miserable farthing each, it is evident a very few 
more tons of it will reduce its value to that of 
the valueless ruby sand of the Menikganga. It 
may very reasonably be deduced that if such an 
evasive statement — as quoted above — is put forward 
by way of proof of the productiveness of the ruby 
mines, there must in reality be an alarming 
absence of some more tangible and convincing proof 
such as the shareholders are now beginning to 
demand. 
Some of the objections to which allusion has been 
made are really almost puerile, and if nothing more 
solid can be urged in opposition to a Company 
such as is proposed for Ceylon, there should be no 
difficulty whatever in its formation, nor is there 
reason to doubt that one or more of such ventures 
will be put before the public before the year has 
gone by — ventures which contain every possible 
element of success. 
♦ 
LOCAL BUILDING MATEEIAL :— TILES : 
A NEW INDUSTRY IN ITALIAN TILES ? 
We all recollect the agonies of Mr. John Briggs, 
so graphically depicted by the inimitable John Leech 
in his series of ' Domestic Miseries ' which 
appeared in Punch, over the ' loose slate,' but it 
may well be doubted it the troubles of that re- 
presentative British householder could be weightier 
than those of the resident of Ceylon who may bo 
unhappy enough during the height of the monsoon 
rains to find that the crows in their gambols, or 
any other of many possible causes, have produced 
a broken tile on the roof of his residence. Even 
the army of artificers and labourers, with their 
giant ladders and other gear, which figure in John 
Leech's sketch, can hardly surpass in capacity 
for annoyance and for the creation of dirt the 
coolies who, owing to the peculiar method in voguo 
among us of covering in our bungalows, have to 
remove a hundred or more of tiles to come to the 
single offending individual among them ; and it 
is because he has a keen persenal sense of the 
gravity of suoh annoyance and its results, that a 
