792 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
[May I, 1891 
“ CEYLON AND ITS GEMS.” 
We should like to know where the “ Boving 
Correspondent” o£ the Times of India whose letter 
will be found below got his infor- 
mation in respect of the more important part of the 
information he tenders to his readers. He says 
that a safe and reliable estimate makes the annual 
export of gems from Ceylon in value about £10,000 ; 
and this, of course, means the annual gathering 
from the gempits, as very few of the actual finds 
are permanently retained in the island. The 
correspondent referred to quite understands that 
the Customs returns cannot be at all depended 
on for the export of precious stones, so many 
being taken away — like the pearls from our present 
Fishery — on the persons of the owners, to India 
especially. In fact the large proportion of our 
sapphires, cat’s-eyes, rubies &c. find their way 
out of the island without being reported ; and we 
cannot help thinking that the estimate of £10,000 
or B 100,000 a year is far below the mark. 
One test we have which it is sur- 
prising the correspondent and editor of the Bombay 
paper did not apply for themselves. The letter men- 
tions — correctly enough we believe — that before 
the recent more stringent legislative restrictions, as 
many as 20,000 natives found employment or 
were connected with the gemming industry. Cer- 
tainly this number is not above the mark, if 
the Bakv.ana district and province of Sabaragamuwa 
are considered, and also the Galle, Weligama and 
Matara districts in the South. Now, without 
counting the middleman’s and exporter’s profits, 
is it likely that 20,000 people, engaged for the greater 
part of the year in gem digging or hunting, are content 
with an average return of five rupees per head 
per annum ! The idea is absurd. Our contern- 
porary of the Times of India ought to have said 
that not £10,000 or ElOO.OUO, but £100,000 or 
El, 000, 000 must, at the lowest, represent the annual 
find and export of gems from Ceylon, to entice and 
keep 20,000 Sinhalese more or less engaged in the 
digging and washing industry, apart from the host 
of relations, tamby pedlars, jewellers and other 
middlemen who make a livelihood out of gem 
selling and buying. 
(By a EoVING ConiiESPOSDENT.) 
Tradition has it that the gemming industry was first 
established by a peculiar people called “ Mookars,” 
who were probably a race of Malabarese. They were 
under the control and guidance of a wom.iu, called 
Mockery, and their efforts were so successful that 
within a short space of time thoy aecupiulated a large 
quantity of treoanro, with which they loaded a ship 
and departed from the Island. But they were not 
destined to reap the fruits of their toil, for, having 
incurred the anger of an evil demon, their ship was, 
by his influence, totally wrecked, and the treasures 
were ivashed ashore and deposited anew in various 
directions. To this tho nativos attrihute the fact that 
gems arc ot’casionally found in the mo.^t unlikely places. 
Thu most valuable gems lounu iu Ceylon, and, pard- 
cularly iu the Sab iragamuwa District, are the ruby, 
the saijphire, and the cats -ey e — this last much prized 
by Asia'ics and especially by the Malays. Bto"es of 
little value, such as garnet, moonstone, teurnnline, 
topaz, spinel and ami'thyst are to ho had in abnu- 
dance. The zircooa, in rich sii id'.s of brown, violet 
and gtrcu,wilh its members the grayish wbue and 
white jargoon, and the red hyacinth, is 1 ’titnl in 
greater quantities thin in any othor country, it is 
bore that the unwary globe-trotter has to bo on uis 
guard, as with the dodre of becoming the envied poss- 
easo of a flue diim nd or ruby, bo not uiiuften be- 
er me 8 tlie prey of tlie de.siguiug “ Tamby ” or Moor- 
man, who palms off as a diamond of tho purr stwiitT 
a valueless zitcoon, or as a ruby a worthless 
spinel, garnet, hyacinth or even quartz. It may 
be noted that a true ruby will scratch any 
of these counterfeits. Notwithstanding this abun- 
dance it is not possible owing to the system 
under which the iuilustry has been worked to fix 
with any degree of accuracy the annual value of the 
gems unearthed. The Customs’ registers are not 
reliable, for out of the many valuable gems found, 
some are retained in the island, and others are 
purchased for nominal sums by private persons and 
speculators, the real values of which are not, if ever 
kuowu until they are disposed of ia Europe or to 
some of the wealthy princes in India. A rough 
calculation, however, based on the best available 
data, gives the value of the precious stones found 
at about £10,000 aonually. 
The ruby is of most value, and has at times secured 
the highest prices, Eejecting as a traveller’s tale the 
assertion of Marco Polo, that ho saw a Ceylon ruby 
the size of a man’s arm it may be interesting to 
recall what is related of another Ceylon ruby, in 
connection with the part played unwittingly, in the 
rise of a frmily that was of note in a subsequent 
period in the history of the Dutch Eepublic. A 
“ Chetty” physician became the owner of a large 
ruby, said to have been the size of a amall curry- 
stuff grinding stone. Cutting it into pieces, and 
retaining the larger portions, he presented the Dutch 
Governor of Colombo, Imhoff, with eighteen buttons 
set with the smaller pieces. Imhuff, not unmindful 
of gratitude, promptly exalt^'d the douor to the proud 
position of first Malabar Mudalijar of the Gate, a 
title of hoT.our still retained, an 1 about equivalent to 
a Lord Lieutenancy of a county in England. This 
rise in rank however stirring into restless action the 
dormant energies of the Chetty the Governor was ac 
last glad lo get riJ of his proteg^ by transforming 
him into a dignitary learned in the law and present- 
ing him with a seat as Judge of the Supreme Court 
iu Java. This gentleman was grandfather to Dr. 
Quint Oadaatjee alluded to iu Allison’s “ History of 
Europe,” as the “■ Great Democratic Leader” &o. 
Whatever, however the value attached to the Ceylon 
rubies in the past or the present it should be noted 
that really valuable ones have ever been scarce and 
they cannot vie iu comparison w.th some Burmese 
specimens. 
Two of the latter were sent to London in 1875, 
weighing 37 and 47 1-16 carats. These were reduced 
after recuttiug by Mr. J. M. Forbes to 32 6-16 and 
39 9-16 carats, respectively, and the former of them was 
sold for £10 000. What became of them eventually it 
would be int -resting to ascertain, as possibly no single 
regalia in Europe contains two such fine rubies. 
Originally they belonged to the King of Burma, but 
impecuniusity and the chronic state of “hardup-ed- 
ness” prevailing at that court led to their dbposal. 
This was not an easy matter to achieve, for the people 
were proud of their possession, and resented the idea of 
their teing sent out of the country. Strategy and 
military force were brought into play, and with a strong 
guard and ami-dst intense exoitement they we.'e conveyed 
to the vessel that was to bear them away to their 
destination. 
In Ceylon, while really valuable rubies are rare, 
and sapphires common, the converse prevails in 
Pegu. Still of the sapphires a few splendid 
specimens have been unearthed, and mention might 
be made of one in the collection that was sent by 
the Colony to the Paris Exhibition in 1855, which 
was valued at £5,000. Notwithstanding the hardness 
of its nature, the sapphire can be beautifully engraved 
and in the Cabinet of Sirossi in Eome, may be seen 
one, with the profile of Hercules, tho work of Coneius. 
Tho eat’fl-eye, too, is occasionally of some value, as 
instance the one that was in the collection of the last 
King of .Kandy, which sold in London in 1820 for 
more than £400. This specimen measured two inches 
in diameter. 
Though tradition speaks of the “Mookars” as the 
pioneers of the gemming industry in Ceylon, it is silent 
us to their methods of work, llow far it resembled 
tho practice adopted by tho natives at the present time 
