inland.

About four or five years since, as the story is told, a ruby weighing
twenty-six carats was found at Ratnapura, which was valued in its
uncut condition, by the London jewelers to whom it was sent, at
twenty-five thousand dollars, and it is said that after it was cut it
lost but little of its weight, while it gained immensely in
brilliancy. This gem was sold to a royal party for forty thousand
dollars. Nearly all the high-cost jewels known to collectors of
precious stones, save the diamond, emerald, and turquoise, come from
the soil of this island. The true cat's-eye is a greenish, translucent
quartz, which presents, when cut and polished, an internal reflection;
hence the appropriate name which it bears. This gem is said to be
found only in Ceylon, though of this we are not certain. One sees
splendid native specimens here at Colombo, valued at three and four
thousand dollars each. As we have intimated, the finest gems produced
by Ceylon do not leave India. The Rajah of Jeypoor is said to have a
cat's-eye of fabulous size and beauty, valued at a king's ransom,
besides great wealth in other precious stones. Though this ruler is a
cultured man, like most of his nationality he is inclined to be
superstitious, and ascribes special protective virtues to his gems. It
is somewhat remarkable that diamonds are not indigenous here, since
the famous Golconda mines are so near at hand in southern India.

Occasional alexandrites, so called in honor of the Russian Czar, are
found in the island. Their color by daylight is a dark green,
bronze-like hue, but by artificial light the stone is a deep crimson,
and is highly prized for its distinctive properties.

Nearly every year, some fresh locality on the plains or in the valleys
is worked with profitable results by the gem seekers, but the rocky
regions of the mountains, whence these precious stones have been
washed in the process of disintegration which has been going on for
ages, have never been prospected. The vast richness which is hidden in
those primitive rocks will one day, perhaps, be brought to light,
rivaling the dazzling stories of the Arabian Nights, or the
fascinating extravagances of Jules Verne.

The choicest uncut stones which are still to be seen in the walls of
the Taj Mahal--that poem in marble at Agra, India, the tomb of the
wife of Emperor Shah Jehan--are said to have come originally from
Ratnapura. They were only crudely dressed by native skill for thi