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THE PRECIOUS CORUNDUM.
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it is said by Mr. Streeter, were purchased from the Burman
government in 1875. Their exportation from the country caused considerable excitement among the populace, as there is a decided opposition to having any fine stones leave the kingdom. One of these gems, displaying a fine, dark color, ■ weighed thirty-seven carats ; the other, a drop-shaped stone, weighed forty-seven and one-sixteenth carats ; but by cutting they were reduced to thirty-two and five-sixteenths and thirtynine and seven-sixteenths carats respectively. No European regalia, it is added, contain two gems of this kind of so fine a quality, yet they were allowed to pass into the hands of parties abroad. The ruby has always been highly esteemed in oriental
countries, where it was employed as a metaphor by the sacred writers for what was most valuable and excellent in moral attainments ; it holds also a conspicuous place in ancient romances as well as eastern legends. The Greeks invented many curious stories about the carbunculus and the lychnis ; one of these legends relates that a lame stork, as an expression of gratitude for the kindness it had received from Heraclea, placed in her lap a wonderful gem, supposed to be the ruby, which lighted up her room at night by its marvellous brilliancy. The lychnis or lamp-stone worn by the goddess Astarte made her temple luminous at night, by its supernatural lustre. There were writers in the sixteenth century who saw as
many marvels as the old heathen romancers; for instance, those who witnessed the brilliancy of the chrysolampis dedicated to Lady Hildegarde, wife of Theodoric, Count of Holland, which lighted the chapel by night. So famous a traveller as Sir John Mandeville of the fourteenth century says : " The Emperor of Cathaye (China) has in
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