The
Dutch Government are the owners of the diamond mines in Borneo, which
are situated in the district of Landak, in the territory of Ponteyanak;
they are worked by Dyaks and Malays, but with far superior skill by the
Chinese. The gems are found in a yellow-coloured gravel, at depths
ranging to 60 feet. Advances are made to the miners, who are bound to
deliver all stones at 20 per cent below their market value.
Diamond
mining in New South Wales is likely to become of much importance, and
the colonists are sanguine of being able to compete with South Africa
in this trade. Twelve thousand diamonds have been obtained up to the
present time, chiefly from the tertiary gravels and recent drifts in
the Bingera, Inverell, and Chittagong districts. The largest diamond
yet found weighed i6-2 grains, or about 5-1/2 carats. They
are of good colour and quality. Companies with large capital are
forming to buy up and work the extensive diamond fields in Bingera.
Other gem stones found in that colony are garnets, the common emerald
(green beryl), oriental emerald (green sapphire), royal blue sapphire,
white and pale blue topaz, and agates.
The
ruby mines of Burma, when scientifically worked, are destined to yield
a vastly increased quantity of this precious stone. There has been
lately a sharp competition for the lease of these mines from the
British Government, and it is believed that Messrs. Streeter have
secured the right for £40,000. It is creditable to England that we
have such enterprising firms of jewellers, seeking the produce at the
very sources ot production, as is evidenced by their
explorations in South Africa, their employment of fleets of boats and
divers for pearl fishing round the Australian shores, and competition
against Indian and Continental firms for the Burma ruby mines. Rubies
are of various reds, and the red sapphire or oriental ruby is next in
value to the diamond.
It
has been well observed that digging for gems, like all gambling
speculations, is but too attractive, and great numbers of the rural
population in Ceylon and elsewhere neglect the safer pursuits of
agriculture for the speculative profits of the gem pits.
Ceylon
has always had a reputation for its richness in precious stones.
Inferior kinds, such as the moonstone and the garnet, are found in the
beds of streams about Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, and some of the
small rivers of the south, but the more precious stones, such as the
ruby, the blue sapphire, the oriental topaz of various yellows, the
Alexandrite and the cat's-eye, must be sought within a radius of thirty
or forty miles from Ratnapura, the city of gems.
The
Ceylon ruby is more frequently of a rich rose colour, having
considerably more light and life than its Pegu rival and is preferred
by many Orientals to the pigeon-blood ruby, which, although the more
costly stone, is invariably less brilliant than the Ceylon one.
The
search for gem stones is carried on in the most primitive manner in
Ceylon. The soil supposed to be rich in precious stones is rented for
an annual sum from the Government. Coolies are set to work to dig the
earth, which is heaped up on one side and then washed through a trough
with variously sized perforated zinc stops, which retain all stones,
according to their sizes. These are placed on a table or flat surface,
and the gems are easily distinguished and picked out. The proportion of
gems capable of being cut and really marketable is not more than 1 per
cent.
Of
the silicious gems, the amethyst of a purplish violet hue is the most
valuable. The best amethysts are brought from Cambay in India, and from
Siberia, Ceylon, and Persia, where they are found both lining the
cavities of geodes and in rolled masses. The chief supply of the blue
turquoise is drawn from the peninsula of Sinai, the great mining
district of the ancient Egyptians. Among the Moors, rubies and emerals,
generally uncut, are worn set in finger-rings and huge earrings, and
necklaces of amber and coral are also prized. The Moors consider that
the risk of fraud by imitation is lessaned by not having precious
stones submitted to the art of the lapidary. This taste for
