El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-04-02

bies than any other place upon earth.
| At times it yields as much as half
| million dollars worth of rubies year,
| and about 10 years ago a single stone
was found weighing II carats, which
| sold for more than 100000. n
| The fine ruby is more valuable than
diamond of the same weight 1t Is esti-
mated that one the color of pigeons
blood weighing five carats will sell for
10 times the value of a five carat dia-
mond, and that the price will increase
with the size. A ruby which weighed
IL carats was recently sold in Eng
land for $35, ZOO, whereas diamond of
that size would not bring more than
$4,000. The largest ruby known is one
which came from Tibet. 1t weighed
1000 'carats. but 1T was not of the first
quality Some of the best stones Of
this kind are owned by native indian
rajahs who consider them among the
most beautiful Of jewels
The demand for rubies is greatly af-
fected by the times. The panic of 1907
caused a slump in the market. All sorts
Of precious stones went down and for
months the London demand for Burman
rubies entirely ceased. The company then
curtailed its production by stopping
night work. and it cut the ges Of the
men from 80 to "a cents a day. In 1908
no dividends were declared. The. times
are now better and all the mines are
again working.
In the MogOk Mines.
1 understand the output of the pres
ent year will be large The monopoly
has introduced modern methods. Its
pumping machinery is now worked by
water power. and the same power gener-
ates and stores electricity, so that the
mills work day and night Much of the
machinery IS similar to that used In tie
diamond mines of South Africa The
stones are run over pulsators. which
separate the heavier gravel from the
lighter. In taking out the rubies the
sorting is done by foreigners, and the
stones are classified by them. The best
go TO London, which is the chief ruby
market, while those of a lower grade are
auctioned off to the local dealers about
the mines The latter are great gam
blers, and will run up the prices If
they think a stone may have a yalu-
able center. Among the rubies are
found spinels. stones which look much
like the true ruby. but which are not
The jewels are tested by a glass through
which the ruby shows two different
cOlors if viewed from different direc-
tions whereas the spinel and garnet
show but one The rubies are found in
a matrix in the rocks, and also in the
clay. Connected with them are often
sapphires.. blue, yellow and green, as
well as garnets and spinels-
Jade for the Chinese.
Next to the ruby. the jade stones OF
Burma are Of great value. They are
mined in the northern part of the coun-
try and are brought to Bhamo. on the
Irawadi above Mandalay. and are
there sold to the Chinese The Chimes
prize jade almost as highly as pearls,
rubies or diamonds They look upon the
stone as emblematfc OF most of the vir-
tues. and use il much as we use the
term pure gold. A fine girl Is a jade
girl, beautiful hand a jade hand and
Jade foot is one which is always on
time Nearly every welI-to-do Chinese
girl has jade earrings and bracelets. am
many have Jade hair pins and brooches
In Burma jade is often used for ear