The same person (Nasr bin al-Hasan) also stated that he saw a jewel
studded on a stone. He commanded his people to rub it with emery so
that it may be detached fyom the stone, but, when it was rubbed with
emery, it was found to be unstable, upon which he opined it was an
imitation and not a real jewel.
Once I saw a strange object in a cave. This cave was situated upon a
stony ground in Qasya near the village of Salyahattah in the mountains
of Kashmir. 1 saw a red semisphere the size of a large pomegranate. I
thought this was something similar to what had been seen by Nasr bin alHasan bin Firuzan. I went closer and touched it. My tactile sensation
showed it to be a semispherical clod of earth from which red pomegranate-like seeds had sprouted. Each grain had an oblong and slender
stone, and each was as long as two to three grains of a large pomegranate.
A thread ran from the root of each grain to the earth, as we see in the
pomegranate grains in which a thread runs from the grains to the pulp. I
sowed a stone of the grain, but it did not sprout. 1 wondered how grains
could grow in the earth without having any association with a plant or
tree.
The weight of ruby and ghubari ruby of equivalent volume is in the
proportion of 70-11/24 to 100. Poets invent novel expressions for bibliomancy, benediction, and reading evil omens. The learned Abu Sa'id
bin Dust Nishapuri, having written an epistle in prose, wrote the following two verses:
Undoubtedly the ring sent by you as a gift is a seal of our mutual
affection.
I would not have accepted this present but for its being a good
omen.
Bijadhi
We now propose to describe bijadhi as it is one of hyacinth-like
stones and also because Al-Kindi and Nasr hold the ruby variety of it
comparable to gold. Bijadhi with its rubicundity has a glitter of violet.
The best bijadhi is from Serandib and is red, flame-coloured and transparent. The harder, larger and more tolerant to the uprooted fibres it is,
the finer it will be. At times one dirham worth of its weight fetches the
price of one dinar.
Al-KindT writes: "It first disclosed itself in the mountain of Rahun,
and later it was mined from a site between Wakhan and Shaknan, which
is situated in Badkhshan in the environ of Takharistan". But (the stone
mentioned by Al-Kindi) is the ruby. Miners who work there do not even
mention bijadhi nor do they acknowledge any relationship between two.
A man going towards Shaknan from Badakhshan will encounter mountains to his right where ruby mines are situated. Bijadhi is known as
