100 PRECIOUS STONES
ment
signed February 22, 1889, to whom the company has paid, according to
Mr. E. W. Streeter, a rental which in 1897-98 amounted to £20,815. The
company also permits the natives to dig under royalty, and has
established very satisfactory relations with them. The year ending
February, 1900, was remunerative, the company paying a dividend of
twelve and one-half per cent. The succeeding year, ending February 23,
1901, showed still better results. Seventeen and one-half per cent,
was paid, and £10,123 iys. carried over. Nine hundred and
forty-seven thousand four hundred and forty-four loads of byon were
mined, at a cost of 10.290!. per load.
The
ruby-bearing clay, or byon, is about three to five feet thick, and is
usually found at from fifteen to twenty feet from the surface. In the
valley bottoms this clay is brought by very primitive methods to the
surface during dry weather to be worked when convenient.
In
the wet season the hill-sides are worked. The stratum of clay is
thicker than in the valley bottoms,—thick enough to be tunnelled. This
is extracted and washed as it is mined. Many kinds of minerals are
found with the rubies, including sapphires, spinels, tourmalines, and
others of less value.
Although
many rubies are found, few are of good color, and the majority do not
weigh over one-eighth carat. Larger stones are generally full of flaws.
Limestone
caves abound among the hills. The byon on the floors of these caves is
more sandy, and, though the rubies are not as plentiful, they are
usually of a better quality.
Rubies are also mined near Mogoung, in the north of Burmah, and at Sagyin, fifteen miles north of Mandalay.
The
principal ruby-mines of Siam are in the provinces of Krat and
Chantaboon. Occasionally a few are found in the sapphire-mines of
Battambong, southeast of Bangkok. As in Burmah, the stones are found in
detrital matter seldom over twenty feet from the surface. The
ruby-bearing gravel,
