28 
Field Museum of Natural History 
region; but this prince is not known from historical 
records. By command of Akbar, the Moghul emperor, 
grain weights of babaghuri were made to be used in 
weighing. All the weights used at court for weighing 
jewels were made of transparent white agate. 
Agates are much used in India for ornamental 
purposes, being made into brooches, rings, seals, cups, 
and other trinkets. A considerable trade is still car- 
ried on in the raw material which is obtained from the 
amygdaloidal flows of the Deccan trap, chiefly from 
the State of Rajpipla, where the main source is a con- 
glomerate near the village of Ratanpur. Here the right 
to collect the stones is leased for a period of five years 
at an annual rental. Aside from Cambay, which is the 
most important place for cutting agate, this industry 
is also carried on at Jabbalpur (or Jubbulpore) and a 
few other places within range of the Deccan trap. 
Much of the agate sold in Europe is exported from 
Cambay, and large quantities are also shipped to 
China. 
The French traveller and gem-merchant, Jean 
Baptiste Tavernier (1605-89), mentions the beautiful 
agates cut at Cambay into cups, knife-handles, beads, 
and other objects. 
Moss agates were formerly known also as tree- 
stones (French agates arborisees). John Fryer, who 
travelled in India and Persia from 1672 to 1681, de- 
scribes the precious stones found in India in his time, 
among these tree-stones with the lively representation 
or form of a tree thereon. 
It was a wide-spread belief among the Moham- 
medans of India that agate had the power of stopping 
the flow of blood, presumably because of its blood-red 
color. The white carnelian was regarded as a "milk- 
stone," and was beneficial to women in increasing their 
supply of milk. 
