The orientals have a deep veneration for the star
sapphire; and M. D'Abbadie, in his travels in Africa, often commanded
the respect of the natives by allowing a stone of this kind, which he
always carried with him, to exhibit its magical beauty to their
astonished eyes.
A stone of a yellow-green tint, exhibiting a similar phenomenon, is brought from Ceylon. It is called the Cat's Eye. Threads
of white asbestos are inclosed within it, and the light is reflected
from these in an intense manner. When this stone is cut en cabochon, a white band of light is seen floating in its interior, that changes position as the gem is moved before the eye.
The
sapphire of Puy is found in the rivulets of Expilly. Its colour varies
from the deepest to the palest blue; sometimes it passes to a reddish
blue, or even to a yellowish green. Its composition is not always
homogeneous; and the specimens which display the finest water are
those in which the tint verges upon green. They are found in
ferruginous sand produced by decomposition of basaltic rocks.
Fig. 57 is a view of the mountain of Expilly, where the sapphires of Puy are found.
Among the celebrated sapphires we must mention above all that which figured in the famous " affair of the necklace."
Found in Bengal by a poor man who sold wooden
