of the specimens used for ornaments, and has been the principal market for the jewellers of Europe for more than two
hundred years. The dark green variety under the name of
Brazilian emeralds was imported as early as the middle of the
seventeenth century. The production in Ceylon and India
has for a long time been large, though in some sections the
government restrictions upon the exportation of gems have
limited their circulation to the poorest specimens ; none of the
finest rubellites of Burmah ever reach the markets of the world
unless they are smuggled out of the country. A magnificent
group, however, was presented to Colonel Symes, in 1799, by
the King of Burmah, which was valued at five thousand
dollars, and is now in the British Museum. This institution
contains a superb collection of tourmalines, from nearly every
region where they are found: — pink and crimson, from Ava,
comprising a large number of acicular crystals standing like
basaltic columns ; the colorless, from Elba and the Dolomite
Mountains ; rose-colored, from Moravia ; deep red, purple, and
blue, from Sweden ; clear light green, from St. Gothard ; different shades of brown, from the Tyrol, affording the exceptional
instance of having both ends of the prism faceted alike; brown
and blue, from the United States ; and greenish yellow, from
Canada.
Siberia furnishes some magnificent specimens of various
colors, including ruby-red, purple, green, and other tints, differing in the arrangement of colors from those of any other
locality. They are found in many places in this country, but
not always possessing the requisite essentials for jewelry.
Dana mentions several sections where they are developed : —
Chesterfield, Massachusetts, where they occur of different
colors, in granite, but generally opaque, sometimes translucent ;
in Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont, of a dark
