AUGUST i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
109 
It would not be out of place here to mention the 
find of a valuable sapphire on Rangwelletenne estate 
by a cooly woman near the mouth of an old gempit. 
Mr. Carry, the energetic superintendent, hearing of the 
find, proceeded to the lines forthwith and challenged 
the old woman to produce the gem to which request, 
of course a pointblank denial of the find was 
vouched for in the most emphatic and solemn 
manner, with an expression of innocence which only 
an oriental can command. Mr. Carry was too familiar 
with the native character to be baffled, so he 
set to work to search, and brought to light 
one of the most perfect sapphires ever pro- 
duced, about the size of a walnut, without a single 
flaw, round, and of a most exquisite blue. The gem 
was handed over to the landowner, Mr. Shand, who 
presented Mr. Carry with a handsome santosam, 
and the oooly woman with R50. The gem is valued 
at from 400 to 500 rupees, but in my opinion it is 
worth much more. [It was sold for R500, and the 
proceeds were devoted to gemming. — Ed.] 
Mr. 0. Shand's property, Bowitiatenna, and the 
adjoining one Bverton are teeming with wealth, 
which only wants European interference and capital to 
disclose. On both properties a stratum of gravel 
was discovered and profitably worked— at least on Bver- 
ton — for the past quarter of a century, varying from 
1 to 7 feet, which ought to be followed up wherever 
it goes, and when it is lost (as it sometimes happens) 
new shafts ought to be sunk, as the natives do, or 
boring operations resorted to till found. As to its 
paying a company, there cannot exist a doubt, if the 
concern is supervised by Europeans, with all the 
modern appliauces for miniug. (joodness knows to 
what depth or how many stTata of gem-yielding 
gravel may be discovered, so that it may well be 
wondered why European capitalists have never tried 
gamming in Ceylon. 
It is all nonsense about finding the matrix. It is 
not required. The "illian" is well-known to yield hand- 
some profits if followed. Even by the primitive and 
laborious method carried on by natives without any 
machinery, they, at least those who have had the 
perseverance to follow up gemming, have all made 
fortunes, attained a good position by their wealth, 
and much lauded property, instances of which I 
shall give b\-and-bye. 
Meantime 1 shall just mention the owner of the 
two pits we visited at Bowitiyatenua named Audris 
Silva alias Tambi Sinho, who little more than two 
years ago was working at his trade as a carpenter, 
and has now amassed considerable wealth, owns 
horses and caniages, houses and lands, and tea 
estates, and is now showing mauy other visible signs of 
affluence and prosperity, which is well-known to be the 
proceeds of the systematic gemming he has carried on 
for the past two years without iutermission. It is also 
well-known that he was almost penniless two years ago ; 
but can now afford to spend R4,000 to R5.000 to get 
at the ff illian " in two pits, which, by-the-bye, has 
only just been hit in one of them. When asked by 
me why he risked so much money on tbe mere chance of 
striking it, he said : " I am sure to fiud the gem- 
yielding gravel somewhere, and when I do I know 
it will repay all my expenditure and leave a haud- 
some profit." So the man evidently knows what he 
is about, and his enterprise and pluck ought to be 
conclusive and positive evidence of " Will it pay ?" 
From inquiring as to whether the matrix had been 
seen by any of the gemmers, I was answered in the 
distinct negativ» ; hut they said (whioh has also come 
utider naj i* 11 observation) that blue, rose-ooloured, 
yellow and red qu.irtz has been often met with, also 
rocks studded with garm is and other coloured mi- 
nerals, whioh aro so soft that they are called gems 
or immature gems by the natives, but do not approach 
auything like the hardness of a precious stone. Their 
belief is that no exposed matrix exists in the 
island, but they pay it may be found much be- 
low the depth of any existing gempifc. In support 
of the non-existenoe of a matrix they said the 
Datives would have found it, aud poiuting to 
the tup of some precipitous rocks just above 
in a piece of Government forest named Hangapangella 
they said: "Some hundreds of men have gemmed all over 
that jungle, and do you think they would not have found 
it, if it existed?" "No : they said "that jungle has been 
searched high and lew, under the roots of trees till a 
number of them have fallen down, by the removal of the 
"illian" and in every stream, under boulders, in small 
cavities, holes in the rocks, and in fact everywhere, 
till grent damage has been done, necessitating the arrest 
and prosecution of many, but all attempts to stop it have 
failed, and unless a watchman is put on bv Government 
or licences granted, illicit gemming will continue on 
all Crown lands." Anyone who travels up or down 
the Rakwana road cannot help observing the parties 
of lowcountry Sinhalese and Moormen going up and 
down, with their bundles on their backs. If asked 
" Where are you going or coming from ?" the reply is 
" The gem diggings." 
Now all the Sabaragamuwa land does not, as might 
be imagined, contain the gem strata, but they are to be 
found at certain plares. Many pits have been sunk by 
men ignorant of what they were about in unproduc- 
tive places — of course to their loss and disgust. Where 
gems are to be found there is a peculiarity noticeable 
about the soil, quite visible on the surface, which does 
not require a scientific man to s^e or prospeot upon and 
in recognized by all prospecting natives as a sure 
sien of success. Anyone would suppose in rich gem- 
vielding Sabaragamuwa that the native would acquire 
wealth. But no: he will sally forth on the wettest 
day to the jungle and commence searching and digging 
with an alavangu till a few baskets of "illian" have been 
collected, then wash it out in the streams, proceeds of 
which he carefully conceals in his loin-cloth and 
takes to town ; or should a Moor merchant 
be in any near village, off he goes to him 
and sells it, obtaining enough money to keep 
him for the time being. So, why should he 
work, cultivating his paddy field, which lies fallow 
from year's end to year's end ? It is no wonder they 
are cheeky and independent. Tbe natives gem on 
their own lands, which are known to contain the 
" illian, " but never more than enough to fill their 
stomachs, for they have no ambition beyond their 
daily wants, so that their apathy will always keep 
them poor. There are exceptions, of course, and those 
few who have kept on gemming are well-known to be 
wealthy. It would be worth while to ascertain the 
number of licenc is issued to gemmers during the 
last 5 years, and also the value of precious stones 
sent through the Post Office to different couutries, 
leaving alone what is sold to passengers at Colombo and 
Galle, to try and arrive at tha approximate value of 
gems produced in Ceylon and the nu.nber of men who 
have laboured for the same. I can pretty nearly esti- 
mate the amount of labour that has been employed on 
private lands. Of course illicit gemmitig must be only 
guessed at. 
A company surely ought to be started by Messrs. 
Symons and Shand for gemming on Everton and 
Rangwelletenne, where no prospecting is required. 
They have ouly got to jump into an old abandoned pit 
and begin where the natives have been compelled to 
stop owing to the water becoming master of the posi- 
tion, but for no other reason. It is to be hoped also that 
some of our rivers— say the Kelnni or Kalugauga or 
both — will see a company at work with dredging 
to raise the whole of the gravel within their length 
and breadth, and washing machinery with 
a sieve-like motion to clear as soon as the 
S.-W. monsoon ra> (a cease, for it is a recog- 
nized fact that t ose rivers' beds' strata contain 
purer and more valuable gems than any land in the 
country. But no licences are issued to natives for 
gemming in them for various reasons, which 
would not interfere with a European company, to 
whom the Government could have no ohjections to 
grant the right to gem the whole river from the 
source to the sea beach. Inquiries have been made 
for gemming land in Sabaragarrauwa for a company, 
and only very recently one of the members of the 
Rothsohild family offered Goverment one million 
pounds sterling for the right to gem all the Crown 
