Burma Rubies | Sapphires | Ruby | Sapphire | Mines Upper Burma & Ceylon, Tavenier Appendix V Page 380



	362 THE RUBY MINES OF UPPER BURMA is so elevated, are subject to attacks of fever on first arrival there. A totally distinct ruby tract is situated in the marble hills at Sagyin, which is only 16 miles from Mandalay. So far as is known, it is comparatively of little importance, the rubies and other gems which are found there being of inferior qualities. Other localities about 15 miles to the north and north-east of Sagyin are reported to produce rubies, but nothing certain is known about them. History.—The "ruby mines" of Burma were first made known by European writers towards the end of the fifteenth century. In the sixteenth century there are more definite references by Portuguese travellers, but they are not of much practical importance. Tavernier,¹ as we have seen, gives an account of the mines and their produce from hearsay ; from which it would appear that the reputation they then bore was not very high, or he would probably have made an effort to visit them. The yield, he says, did not exceed 100,000 icus (say £22,500) per annum, and he found it profitable to carry rubies from Europe to Asia for sale. The principal authorities of the present century, previous to the conquest of Upper Burma, are Mr. Crawfurd ² ; the Pere Giuseppe d'Amato,³ who visited the mines about the year 1833 ; Dr. Oldham,⁴ who visited Ava and collected information about the mines in the year 1855, when with Sir Arthur Phayre's mission ; Mr. Bredmeyer, who was in the service of the King and visited the mines in the year 1868 ; and Mr. Spears and Capt. Strover, of the British Burma Commission, both of whom have placed on record their observations. From these authorities we learn that the rubies which were found were generally small, not averaging more than a quarter of a rati, and that the large stones were generally smuggled away, but few of them reaching the King. It was supposed that the Chinese and Tartar merchants who visited Mogok and Kyatpyen conveyed most of them out of Burma. The large rubies were generally flawed, and Mr. Spears states that he never saw one exceeding half a rupee in weight, i.e. about 22 carats. The King's revenue derivable from the monopoly was variously estimated by these authorities at from £12,500 to £15,000. The more recent information now available confirms these estimates. The figures stated on official authority are 90,000 to 100,000 rupees, the highest sum being 150,000 rupees paid in one year. Besides which, however, was the reserva- ¹ Vol. ii. pp. 77 f. below. ² ' Mission to Ava,' Edin. New Phil. Journ., 1827, p. 366. ³ Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. ii, p. 75. * Yule's Mission to Ava, p. 347.