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122
GEMS IN CEYLON;
£200, by the gems discovered. Could these lands be sold or rented, now that their value is known, the 1-1/2 acres would fetch nearly three times as much as they originaiiy sold for.
That stones of very large value are occasionally found is established beyond doubt. Iddemaigoda Basnayaka Nilame who has given me much information bn this subject, tells me that in one of his jilts was found a sapphire that he sold for £8oo, and it was re-sold in India for £2,000. Another sapphire foiled in the stream near the Assistant Agent's house was the subject of dispute, and was sold for ,£200 to Iddemaigoda. He sent it to Colombo and sold it for £365, and it has probably since then fetched three or four times that sum in India or Europe.
Four months ago the Gem Notary sent to London to be forwarded to the Paris Exhibition, a sapphire found in the Weralupe pits which, after much haggling he had bought from his fellow-shareholders for £650. This stone, which uncut, is said to be the size of a hen's egg, has been valued in Ceylon at ^2,500, and it is impossible to guess what may be its value in the capitals bf Europe.
All these stones were found in the Weralupe pits, whilst the temple claim­ed the land and before it was sold, and it shews of what wealth the Gov­ernment was defrauded during the temple usurpation, though such wealth is, Of course, valueless, if left in the bowels of the earth.
I beg therefore again to urge upon the consideration of Government, how desirable it is that some system should be adopted for developing the resources and trade of the district in this particular direction.
Solely as an experiment, I would ask permission to divide the district into parcels, and rent the parcels by public auction, the upset prices being fixed according to estimated value. Should the prices thus realized not be considered sufficiently good, the rent of the whole might be exposed in one lot at an upset price to be hereafter determined, and if the expectations of Government were not then realized, the rents might be withdrawn and persons most strictly prohibited from gemming on public lands for the future. My opinion is that leased in parcels the rents would fetch ,£ 1,000: due notice will be re­quired to be given to the jewellers of Gille and Colombo.
The rents should be sold in Novemoer or December to take effect from 1st January of each year, and the renters should be required to conform to regulations guarding against destruction of timber _or other Government property, whilst they are prosecuting their search for gems.
I am sir (Signed) F. E. Saunders, Assistant Government Agent. Note 1881.)—The value of gems exported from Ratnapura has increased very much since lS57, and Government now lease lands at profitable rates, though there is no regular system or law to regulate the digging for gems Bn Crown lands.
PRECIOUS STONES AND GEMS.
(From " Precious Stones and Gems" hy Edxoin IV. Streeter.)
The amethysts of the Palatinate fairly rival in beauty those found in Ceylon or Brazil. It is not the geographical position which determines the 'difference, although it is acknowledged that India, Brazil and Ceylon have produced larger precious stones and irt greater' abundance than other lands. The ancients were wont to ascribe this pre-eminence to evaporation from the earth where precious stones are found—an evaporation obviously more intense in tropical countries. It is as if the sunburnt tropics were more favourable to the blo?soms of the inorganic, world, than the dark skies of the north.
But although precious stones are not limited to any defined geographical area; their distribution is in a measure circumscribed. They are not met with