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Sec. III, Ch. 7: The Emerald

Sec. III, Ch. 7: The Emerald Page of 366 Sec. III, Ch. 7: The Emerald Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
The Emerald.
203
until the beds are exposed, in which the Emeralds are found. On the summit of the mountains, and quite near to the mouth of the mine, are large reservoirs, whose waters are shut off by means of water-gates or sluices, which can be easily shifted when the labourers require the water. When the waters are freed, which occurs about every quarter of an hour while working, they rush with great rapidity down the walls of the mine, and on reaching the bottom of it they are conducted by means of an under­ground canal through the mountain into a basin.
Workings at the Muzo Mines were stopped in the middle of the last century, and it was rumoured that fires had broken out, and that the mines were unsafe. It was not until 1844 that active operations were resumed. About that time a Colombian named Paris—after whom the rare mineral Parisite was christened—got out some fine stones and sold them for large sums in Europe and in the United States. A French company was afterwards formed, and during the Empire all the finest stones went direct to the Paris market. At the present time Emeralds of fine colour are of great rarity.
EGYPTIAN EMERALDS.
Probably the earliest known Emeralds were those obtained from the mines in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. The scientific expedition to the Northern Etbai, despatched by H. H. the late Khedive, in the spring of 1891, made a somewhat detailed examination of the old workings, and specimens were brought home by Mr. E. A. Floyer, to whose courtesy the author is indebted for the following description of the mines.
Though the mines are mentioned by the ancient
Sec. III, Ch. 7: The Emerald Page of 366 Sec. III, Ch. 7: The Emerald
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