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PRECIOUS STONES
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As flawless, transparent, pigeon-blood red crystals of corundum are rare, and extremely so in large pieces, rubies of that character have always been very costly stones, and command a higher price than any other. They are much more valuable in large sizes than the finest grades of diamonds.
Many rubies contain clouded strata in the crystal, which, when the stone is cut en cabochon, exhibit under strong light six divergent rays. As this peculiarity occurs in a more marked degree in the sapphire, these star stones, as they are called, will be described more fully with the sapphire.
Rubies are found in Burmah, Siam, Ceylon, Afghanistan, Thibet, Australia, and North Carolina, United States. The finest are those of Burmah.
The ruby-mines of Upper Burmah have been worked since the fifteenth century. They border on the eastern bank of the Irrawaddy. The mines under English control are sit­uated in a section known as the Stone-tract. It is a moun­tainous district of about four hundred square miles, thirty miles east of the Irrawaddy, beyond a low-lying jungle coun­try. Mogok, one hundred miles north of Mandalay and sixty from the Irrawaddy, is the trade centre, and the district in­cludes the townships of Kathe and Kyat-pyin. Formerly the ruby-mines were worked under the permission of the Burman government, which required the product to be brought first to Mandalay for inspection and that tribute might be laid on it. Under Oriental rulership the result may be imagined. Few large stones left the country except they were smuggled out. Although the diggers were closely watched and dishon­esty was severely punished, it is estimated that a third of the findings were smuggled into India without having paid the tax. Since the English took possession this is changed, and the tribute paid in rents to the East Indian government is much less than was formerly paid to the native government.
The mines are worked by the " Burmah Ruby Mines Limited" Company, under a lease from the British govern-