Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-30
IN THE LAND OF RUB|ES
BLOOD" GEMS PLEN-
TIFUL IN MOGoK VALLEY.
Red Stones Washed From Gravel.
Shans, the People Of the Dis
trict-The Process.
Francis Thatcher. in The World Today.

Francis Thatcher in The World Today.
When the British soldiers broke into
King Thibau Minis treasury in the palace
of Mandalay in November, 1885, they
found on the top Of each big bag Of
peacock rupees a tiny bag full of un-
cut rubies. These gems were the tribute
paid by the tsaubaus of Mogok to the
kings of Burma. one of whose many
titles was king of the Rubies." and
whose last capital. Mandalay. was known
as the city of Gems" All rubies found
over 4 certain size belonged by right to.
or We're rather claimed by might as the
property Of. the then reigning King OF
Burma. and death was the penalty i'm
ruby in his possession.
Consequently few rubes of any con-
siderable size made their way out Of the
Shan states, for when such a one was
found it was surreptitiously cut into small
portions. And in those bygone days
whenever ruby of unusual magnitude
was discovered and the information leak
ed out. procession of mobiles with SOL
d ers and elephants was sent out to meet
it. and it was brought in state into
Mandalay.
1t is in the valley of Mogok. which is
ruby mines district. that the finest and
most highly priced rubies of the So
called pigeons blood" color are found.
The mines have been worked for CEN
turtles in rude fashion and the rubies
found by sinking holes down to the ruby
bearing stratum, and then sitting or
washing the earth raised therefrom.
Worked in this primitive fashion they
yielded about a half million dollars
worth Of rubies year. But. OF course.
lie, o,,1x- foI III
ter of the actual find. the majority, and
more especially the larger stones, being
secreted and Struggled away to keep them
out of the greedy clutches Of the kings
of Ava.
When I first visited the valley of Mo-
gok in 1880 the town consisted of a few
hundred more or less dlapidated bamboo
hutS. the walls of VIII CHI were made OF
bamboo mating and the roofs heavily
matched with reeds. Dirt and squalor
are a cheerful and contented lot, as id'e
and shiftless as their brethren OF the
plains. but quite happy. Willing away
their existence in gambling and everlast-
ingly smoking-both men and women
their enormous green-leaf cheroots. some
occasionally tilling the fertile valleys.
some engaged in a desultory trade in
horsefesh. for the Shan states are noted
for their breed of ponies, while those IN
the immediate vicinity did a trade in
Working the Ruby Mines.
But the peaceful and sleepy valley is
indeed changed since the Ruby Mines
Company took possession. constructed
dam across the Yen stream and set up an
electric installation of about two hundred
horsepower. which pumps and lights the
principal mine, to say nothing of the
great washing mills situated at the north
ern end of the town which cast away the
large stones and rubbish and collect the
fine sand in which the rubies are found.
A flat-bottomed Irrawaddy Flotilla
Company's padd'e-wheeler carries you up
the river from Mandalay and lands you
at dirty riverside village called Thabeik
From there you travel for thirty miles
along a cart road running through i'm
penetrable tropical jungle, or terrai. as 1t
is called permeated with death-dealing
fevers and malaria in its most fatal form,
and the haunt of all kinds Of wild beasts.
Winding and winding you arrive at the
little town of Mogok, at height OF about
four thousand feet above sea level, the
headquarters of the greatest ruby mining
industry, which produces one-half or
more of the annual yield of rubes in the
world. Here you are surrounded by de-
lightful rolling downs mantled with soft
verdant turf, shallow valleys through
which trinkle little streams painted the
paddy" shoots, and dotted over in tiny
brown patches marking the surrounding
villages with their matched gable roofs.
A land Of plenty where man lies on his
back and smokes while prodigal nature
works for him.
The Ruby Queen.
The Shans are divided up into clans or
tribes. each ruled by a tsaubau or chief.
the wealthiest and most powerful of
whom is that of Mogok who is reputed to
be worth many millions, and whose
daughter is, or was a short time ago. one
of the richest catches in the marriage
mart of the orient. Respondent in her
gala attire she is a sight for the gods
with her magnificent embroidered ia
maing or divided skirt, the soft white
silk shirt fastened with cunningly
wrought jeweled butterflies, her neck en-
circled with necklaces of rubies reach
ing below her waist, each worth kings
ransom. and her jet-black hair covered
with jeweled ornaments which would
cause pang Of envy in the breast of a
fashionable beauty. Her thickly whiten-
ed face with its penciied eyebrows.
oblique eyes, f1attened nose. and gener-
Gus mouth. though not classcally beau
tiful in the occidental sense, is distinctly
piquant. She is, even above her father,
the tsaubau. the most striking figure in
but 1t was whispered that she had
penchant for the sahbs. Her father is
no different from the ordinary well-to-do
Shan trader He has fine house. built
of teak, where he entertains lavishly,
and he will squat on his stoop in mis-
thick fur-lined coat, exchanging views
by the hour, while he smokes cheroot
after cheroot or chews the salivary beAl
nut.
The ruby-yielding area stretches over
two hundred square miles, and all along
the valley, which is intersected oy num-
berless ravines through which run rapid
streams. are thousands of small pits sunk
down to the ruby-bearing stratum in
which the rubies are found by sitting and
washing the earth extracted from them
This ruby bearing earth Is known as
byon and for centuries past has been
worked in this fashion. 1t is a curious
sight to see hundreds of Shans and Bur-
mese in their baggy blue pantaloens. with
their enormous hats thirty or forty inches
in diameter hanging down over their
backs like huge brown mushrooms,
crouching over the holes searching for
fubies. Day and night without cessation
this constant search goes on.
stroll through the town is full of in
terest and quaint sights. The long ir-
regular lanes are bordered I'm each side
by bamboo huts outside of which sit the
Shan women with their curious headgear
selling the products of the neighboring
villages. The bazaar consists Of a long
tt,<. had c,rrv. tod los lNy