ON THE RUBIES OF BURMA AND ASSOCIATED MINERALS. 
187 
2. At Bobedaung in the Royal Loo. 
3. At Taungla. 
4. At the northern hill of Sagyin. 
Previous to my examination of the mines no true rubies had ever been seen by 
Europeans in their matrix, though crystals of opaque reddish corundum had been 
discovered in limestone in other parts of the world. It therefore became an interest¬ 
ing matter to discover whether the ruby existed in this celebrated ruby-bearing tract 
in the matrix. 
Failing to discover anything but red garnets in the gneissose rocks, and red spinels 
in the crystalline limestone, T endeavoured, by questioning the mine-owners through 
Fig. 18. 
Ruby Quarry and Cave. 
my interpreter, as to whether they had met with the ruby enclosed in rock, but at 
first without success. They must have known that it had been found, but were 
evidently loth to acknowledge it, or offer any information on the subject. My inter¬ 
preter, upon whom the importance of making the fullest inquiries was constantly 
impressed, at last learned from a miner the locality of the R,uby Quarry in limestone 
at Mogok, from which he had extracted rubies by blasting. 
Upon examining this, no rubies could be seen in the face of' the rock, but on 
getting two men who had worked there previously to put in a few shots and blow 
down a block, I had the gratification of seeing rubies of fine colour in the pure white 
limestone for the first time. 
This quarry had been worked for fifteen years up to the time of the British 
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