230 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1889; 
Bhare, which pays him much better than making 
arrests, and tramping some 20 or 30 miles to 
the Courts, beside having to provide food for 
the prisoners, and sundry other expenses, none 
of which are recouped by Government. Occasion- 
ally, however, we hear of wholesale arrests being 
made in some forests, suoh as took place at Pat- 
galkanda, near Eatnapura, some time ago, when 
about 200 men, villagers and lowcountry Sin- 
halese, were arrested, by having the jungle (about 
500 acres) surrounded with a party of men headed 
by the Eatemahatmaya and some other Government 
officials ; fines were imposed, licenses refused, and 
a watchman put on this jungle, but has it stopped 
illicit gemming ? Anyone who ohooses to pay a 
surprise visit will find paths or tracts all through 
the same land and heaps of illam which has been 
gathered from under borders of rocks, roots of 
trees and the sides of streams, abandoned on the 
sound of voices or footsteps ; and by chance you 
may see the figures of some men flying helter- 
skelter through the jungle leaving washing baskets, 
and pointed sticks, for digging out the gravel, be- 
hind. So our spirits of adventure are driven from 
place to place. Whenever any enemy of the peace 
officer thinks his earnings are too much, petitions go 
to the Government Agent about his blindness to his 
duty. Some arrests are made and the offenders 
taken to Court, and fined a few rupees, which they 
(the aocused) or perhaps the headman indireotly pays ; 
so they go cheerfully off for fresh fields and pastures 
new and perhaps back to their old diggings. 
In some Government lands in Sabaragamuwa the 
illam is so near the surface, and in fact in many 
instances the very top dressing of the soil itself, 
that it is hardly to be expected that the gambling 
and apathetic native spirit can resist the temptation 
to turn it over and wash it out, damaging or ignoring 
the rights of Government, who are not in a position 
to check or stop it. Consequently all or nearly all 
licenses to gem on Crown land and large rivers are 
refused. 
A man named Peris and some others leased a 
piece of about 2 acres of the land referred to above 
for one year for E600, out of which it is said 
they netted E30,000, but no renewal of licenses 
is to be given for the same place tthis iyear, for 
similar reasons given to those described above. The 
fact is the natives cannot be honest, and the Go- 
vernment have not provided the means of and don't 
care to be bothered looking after them, so a fair 
source of revenue is neglected. 
There are many smaller rivers than the Kalu- 
ganga in Sabaragamuwa where gemming has been 
very successfully carried on for years past by 
natives, such as the Weganga, flowing past Madampe, 
draining a large extent of country towards the 
north-east of the Eakwana range flowing into the 
Kaluganga at Eatnapura. I am not sure if it does 
not rise in Handapanela jungle,and flow through 
Everton and Eangweltenne,| Messrs. Symons' 
and Shand's properties, which are well-known to 
be exceptionally rich in precious stones. 
There again is the Hangumaganga which rises in 
the rich Etoya forest, also Crown property, where 
illicit gemming went on when licenses were granted, 
till all permits had to be refused. The above 
river is also a pretty large one, and flows into the 
Kaluganga near Eatnapura. The Walaweganga 
which drains the Balangoda range and flows into 
the sea on the east coast has been discovered to 
have in its bed, in places, some of the richest 
illam ever unearthed, but no licenses are granted in 
either it or the Kaluganga (the other smaller 
rivers are at present being gemmed, and have been 
for centuries past), but I learn on good authority 
that o very encouragement would bo given to a com- 
pany to gem those large rivers, and the Government 
Agent would gladly foster and forward the endea- 
vours of any company that may be floated, which 
would greatly benefit the Province, and in fact, the 
whole Colony : when the good results of one com- 
pany is made known, others would doubtless follow. 
It is only a start that is wanted to prove 
the richness^of our gem-yielding strata. I do not 
wish to despise our agricultural enterprise by 
pronouncing it a less paying industry than mining, 
but surely some of the retired estate proprietors 
at home might turn their attention to, and become 
the promoters of, the new enterprise which our 
colony affords, by getting up a gem and plumbago 
mining company, which I feel confident would 
pay the European as well as the native of Ceylon, 
if conduoted on a proper basis* 
I hear that our well-known millionaire, Mr. C. H. 
De Soysa, is likely to purchase some rich gemming 
land adjoining his tea properties for gemming and 
planting purposes, and is prepared to give a high 
price for it. The land is Government forest, about 
six miles along the Colombo road from Ratnapura, 
and is called Halpandeniya, containing about six 
square miles which has been cut into small blocks, 
and will soon be put up for sale by auction. 
When the surveyors were at work on this 
land their coolies who cut the boundaries 
picked up lots of precious stones. No licenses 
are granted for gemming there either, but par- 
ties were to be met with camped all over the place, 
who cleared off, leaving their tools and illam behind. 
I only mention this land as a fine chance for a 
company to commence operations on. By the bye, 
one of the adjoining estates' kanganies used to 
spend a good deal of his time in Halpandeniya 
jungle, and it eked out that he had found some 
valuable gems, where he laboured daily for a 
couple of hours, so he was told to produce them, 
the Government Superintendent declaring that he 
had been gemming on estate land. No gems were 
forthcoming, but to make certain the Superin- 
tendent proceeded into the jungle, and to make a 
long story short found a ravine honeycombed 
by the old chap, who upon hearing that his bed 
of treasures had been discovered, absconded, leav- 
ing a wife and family to bemoan his loss, without 
a share of the valuable stones he is said to have 
taken with him. Near Kuruwita some rich 
gemming land has also been surveyed, named Kara- 
parika, 250 acres cut into 9 lots for native gem- 
mers, who pay as as much as from R300 to E2.000 or 
E3,000 per acre, for good land at a Government 
auction. 
Eatnapura is the Sabaragamuwa gem market, 
the centre to which all the precious stones find 
their way from the surrounding country, and it 
presents a pretty lively scene during the busy 
hours of the day, usually from 8 a.m. till almost 
dark. You can see men of all nationalities from 
Kalutara, Galle, Panadure, and Colombo making 
their nurohases at the different gem dealer's tables, 
and many an hour is wasted over the purchase 
of a few thousand rupees' worth of gems, beating the 
owner down to the very lowest, before they close, 
which probably won't come to pass after all, so off 
the tamby will march to the next establishment, 
for he is not in a hurry, thus wasting days over 
a small purchase, for they cannot close a bargain 
in a hurry, especially with gems. Any European 
could buy E10,000 worth of gems in a couple 
of days of inferior or medium quality, which would 
take the Ceylon Jew or Moorman a month to 
battle about. The street in question is about a quar- 
ter of a mile long, with houses on each side, which 
with two or three exceptions are oocupied by dealers 
in precious stones, cutters and polishers, oalled 
