At
first they were merely collected by the villagers, who were attracted
by the beautiful colors; and so little was their value realized that
they were used as flints for striking fire with steel. They were so
abundant at first that one writer speaks of having seen about a
hundred weight of them in the possession of a single native. Traders,
however, soon carried them to the distant commercial centers, where
their value became known. There was an instant rush of jewelers' agents
to the locality of the mine, and the price rose rapidly until about £20
per ounce was paid for good specimens, at which rate they have
remained. The Maharajah of Cashmere promptly exercised his authority
and sent a regiment of sepoys to take possession of the mines and harry
the natives who were suspected of having stones in their possession or
any knowledge of new localities where the gems could be found. Any one
they laid hands on who had money was suspected either of having sold
sapphires or of being about to purchase them, and was despoiled or
even imprisoned. This naturally enough had the effect of compelling
secrecy. Several crystals were found weighing from 100 to 300 carats
each. During the first year of the discovery the Delhi jewelers are
said to have bought up more than £20,000 worth of these sapphires.
Exceptionally fine sapphires to-day bring from $65 per carat to $125
per carat, which is less than before this great find.
The
acquisition of the Burmese ruby mines cost the British Government a
vast sum of money. On the wars of 1826 and 1852 England expended
$75,000,000 and $15,000,000, respectively, and after all this
sacrifice of treasure the Burmah and Bombay Trading Company claimed,
four years ago, that King Thebaw, of Burmah, had arbitrarily canceled
the leases by which the company controlled the output of the ruby mines
near Mandalay. A meeting was accordingly held at Ban-goon, on October
11, 1884, presided over by Mr. J. Thompson, agent for Messrs.
Gillanders, Arbuthnot & Co. The result was the war of 1886, which
involved the raising of an array of 30,000 men and an outlay of
$5,000,000, but the British Government gained control ot the long
coveted ruby mines. The question which next presented itself was, how
should they be worked ? Several firms were desirous of securing the
lease, and after the Indian Government had virtually closed a lease to
Messrs. Streeter & Co., the London jewelers, at an annual rental of
4 lakhs of rupees (£40,000), for a term of five and one-half years,
with the privilege of collecting 30 per cent, on all stones mined by
others, the home Government revoked the lease for some unexplained
reason, probably ou account of trade jealousies, although Mr. Streeter
had apparently every assurance of the acceptance of his proposition
and had even made preparations to begin work at the mines.
The
ruby mines of Burmah are situated in the valley of the Mogok, 51 miles
from the bank of the Irrawaddy river and about 75 miles north of
Mandalay, at an altitude of 4,200 feet. Concerning these mines very
little has been learned up to the present, as they were always
