The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1896-02-26
SI Ilg q gllARl5sls GEN FIELDS Of AMERICA
Those OF Other Countries Whore Some
sr a n, hest ana Most vni"ablc of
- Aas3 Rcautifni Rosy sienss nrc FOUND
T. Che City OF Rebics-The Finest
91rqIofscs-Enc Mines.
'tBy GEORGE f. KUNzo


land = finally conquered the Burmese
sRmgdom in 1885. Tt,!s was accomplish
ed by two expensive wars, and conces-
sRsonS for working the mines were exact
led from the King as Indemnity. Such
was the idea of their richness. that
when the Burma Ruby Mines Company.
fLimtted, was organized in l.ond7n, the
Hspectacle was witnesses of white-haired
Smillionaires being dubbed away from
Z b bankers Office where they blocked
sin their eagerness to obtain Il STOCK
%that was subscribed for ihrec times
sSover before the books We're opened Tor
4 the public. Immediately selling Tor three
@times par. This stock, however, mas
mot earned n dividend up TO this day
and Is quoted at less than twenty IN
4 stead OF three hundred. Last year the
Il CoInpany's payment 10 the Indian Gov
Aernment was reduced TO encourage the
enterprise, which has proved very un-
\ profitable. The climate Is the greatest
enemy Of the European: Of fifty Eng
& lish officers who visited the mines. for
sty-e eight had the local fever: the other
&two had had It before.
The rubies always associated with
= the ruby-red spinel occur in layer of
sand and gravel in the valley bottoms.
resulting from the breaking down Of
= crystaline limestones, and are obtained
n by digging pits as deep as IS practical
3 BILE before they iill the water. and from
s$open cuttings in the hillside: also from
& cavities and caves in the beds OF Eian'i-
War limestone: and rarely by quarrying
@into the rock. The limestone, the orr
" Einal matrix OF the ruby, Is identical
&with the rock in which Opaque rubies
y and s:immense spinels are found, In
4 Orange county, New York.
En- In Siam, the gem-producing distric.
D lies in the interior, not Very far from
s Bangkok. Ii produces many small, but
4 good rubies, sapphircs, etc, and Is work
! ed by various persons and companies
I hclding concessions from the Govern
Y ment. The gems are found in n layer
y of soft yellowish sand at Il depth of
Il from few inches TO twenty feet. The
&methods of working are of the most
/, primitive Oriental kind.
SSisg. In Macon county North Carolina. III
IAN alluvial deposit from .he breaking
SdoWn of crystalline rocks. some Very in
S3teresting crystals of ruby have been
Sfound In fiat, heXagonal tabular forms
.Aanumber of small gems have been cut
(. from these. all CT good color, and quite
sEeQual to the medium rubies from Berma
isSs The sapphire occurs associated with
the ruby, In similar situations, and is
y also found where rubics have not been.
38as yet Ceylon furnishes many Of The
SibeSt. but they also occur of fine quality
saEtn Burma, Slam. and the Hmalayas.
sand rarely In the ural Mountains. and
1.-THE United States.
In Ceylon the ruby. sapphire. spinel.
cat's-cye, and other gems
fare all found as rolled pebbles in gravel
! In, or near, old river-beds in the Gov
eminent of Handy.
THE CITY OF RUBIES
b Ratnapura, the city OF rubies at the
root OF Adams Peak, with an attitude
OF G,Oo0 feet, is a great mining centre.
SPlts are sunk TO the depth permitted
SSPy the limited pumping appliances in
Ssearch OF gcm-bcaring gravel. and when
Sfhis bed is not reached within The Iimii
Sof possible water clearance. the nit ia
abandoned and trial made elsewhere
ST seems as If with the application of
machinery adequate to Keeping ,hc. nil :
Hciear of water, this constant abandon
\ ment of those sunk would no lcnrer bn
necessary, and the profits known 10 have
been made by native workers would No
largely surpassed by the Europcans
X But the hopes entertained ms TO both
:Burma and Ceylon have been dlsap-
pointed hitherto; nor docs there apnear
any chance of future success, unless
with some improved methods of ma
chtne-Working. One who has been ac-
i've IN this gem working enterprise says:
3Whst we want is an honest machine.
one that will not only obtain for MS
semferous stuff. but would securely
guard 1t from the pickers and stealcrs
until 1t can be raised to the surface ana
treated under close European supcrvi-
slon.' This last is impossible down in
1he pits OF Ceylon, Is no European could
long endure their heat.
u AS a result of the work undertaken bv
european mechanical agency in Ceylon.
ahe bazaars OF Colombo were fuller than
ch san mad been ever known before of
gems of various kinds; but few of these
mad passed through the hands Of the
companies working the mines
.aA Nearly all the fine sapDhirns Of tho
PAST fifteen years are ron very re-
inarhaDle discovery made in 1852. in The
EehSkaf range Of the Himalavas. I'm
aNortAWestern kashmir. near the line OF
perpetual snow. a landslide removed
81 abundance of Sapphres. which nj
B t.l were used as gunflint by the ma
lives. one writer speaks of having sos,
upout q hundredweight cf them in INA
+ possession OF single native yradnry
I however, soon carried taem to commar'
ySAai centres, where their value baco,,o
sNhSWn. The M2h2rajah os Cashrnar
{ ptDihptiy sent regiment OF Scnovs
s s.ei x upon the mines and To hurr;. ~
lsltIiVes who We're suspected Of hs,.;,
q Sstoles IN their possession. or any lsnom.i
sase Oh new localities where ,ha 80,
could be found 'ie gem
$sfs II our own country, corundnn, oo,,,
I, y ht 1s points along the eastern d.,
soI the Appalachian Mountains ia
Il Et' rahkiin, Macon county, North C,aroi;
d d "a, Colonel c. W. Jerks first mir,
81 Sn ssp .,, associated with coru,