are not so abundant as is generally believed, seeing that the value does not amount to 100,000 ecus l per annum.
Among
all these stones you would find it difficult to meet with one of good
quality, weighing 3 or 4 carats, because of the strict injunctions
against allowing the removal of any which the King has not seen ; and
he retains all the good ones which are found among them. This is the
reason why in all my journeys I have earned a sufficiently large profit
from taking rubies from Europe into Asia ; and I very much doubt the
story of Vincent le Blanc where he says that he has seen rubies in the
King's palace as large as eggs.2
The
following is the price of some rubies which might pass as of good
quality. During my several journeys I saw them sold by merchants who
came from the mine, while I was at Masulipatam and Golkonda. All rubies
are sold by the weight called rati, which is 3| grains or Jth of a
carat;3 and payment is made in the old pagodas, of which I have spoken in the preceding chapter :
A
ruby of 1 rati was sold for 20 pagodas ; 2 1/2 ratis was sold for 85
pagodas ; 3 1/4 ratis was sold for 185 pagodas ; 4 5/8 ratis was sold
for 450 pagodas ; 5 ratis was sold for 525 pagodas ; 6 1/2 ratis was
sold for 920 4 pagodas. When a ruby
1
£22,500. In the year 1855 the revenue from the mines was estimated at
from £12,500 to £15,000. Since the conquest of Upper Burma these mines
have, as is well known, been let for a term of years to an English
company. Further information will be found in an Appendix to this
volume. For the Ruby Mines District see Imperial Gazetteer, xvi. 333 f.; Scott & Hardiman, Gazetteer, Upper Burma, Part ii, vol. iii. 18 ff. ; Ency. Brit., xxiii. 812 f.; Barbosa, ed. Dames, 1921, vol. ii. 161 f.
2 This statement does not appear in the Paris edition of Le Blanc's Voyages, 1648.
Sir T. Roe speaks of a ruby weighing 13 tolas, or about 5J oz., which
was offered to Jahangir for 5 lakhs of rupees by the Portuguese, but he
would give only one lakh for it. (See Journal, ed. Foster, i. 183.)
* Namely the pearl rati = 2-66 grains troy. (See Appendix to vol. i.) 4 In
other words, a ruby of 18 grains troy was sold for about £465 15s.—the
rati being equal to 2-66 grains troy, and the pagoda to 10s. 11/2d.
(See vol. i, Appendix.) According to Mr. Streeter (Precious Stones) rubies over a carat in weight vary in value from £20 to £100 per carat at present, but he adds
that no definite price can be given to aid the purchaser. According to
Barbosa, the King of Ceylon used to put a ruby in a fierce charcoal
fire, and if it stood the test it became much more
