Ruby

a rich red, transparent, precious stone, scientifically known as a variety of pure corundum. Rubies are found in Ceylon and Siam. The finest rubies are from Burma, where they occur like drops of metal in limestone. Where the parent rock has been disintegrated, they are found in beds of gravel. Genuine rubies, of small size, however, are found in the Cohee Valley in North Carolina. A pale red topaz from South America is known as the Brazilian ruby. The rock ruby is a red garnet. A genuine red ruby of the best color is the most expensive of gems. It is worth from three to ten times its weight in diamonds of its own size. Most of the stones sold as rubies are, it is needless to say, cheap stones, or even imitations in glass.

There are four principal mines in the Mogok Valley, in each of which modern tools and machinery are used, which facilitate the proper examination of a large amount of byon, or ruby-bearing clay, each day. In adjacent valleys the Burmans still prosecute their searches in the old way, digging and washing by hand labor, but often with astonishing results. In the large workings the system is reduced to a science, with corresponding results. The work is continued day and night.

The byon is extracted by the open-quarry method of removing all the surface down to the ruby-bearing clay, which is then dug up, carried on trolleys to the steam cleansing mill, washed, passed through the sieves, and then examined for rubies and spinels.

The byon stretches almost everywhere along the Mogok Valley, and wherever this rich, old-gold, crumbling clay exists rubies are to be found.

Rubies are more precious than diamonds, and are practically indestructible except by fire. While a flawless diamond of one carat may be worth roughly about $100, a perfect ruby of the same weight would be worth at least $200. But the increase in value as the size increases is much greater in rubies than in diamonds. A diamond of ten carats is worth perhaps $4,000, while a ruby of that weight may be worth any price up to $70,000, which was the value placed on a stone exhibited at the Franco-British Exhibition in London in 1908.

In Burma itself the market for gems is surprisingly large, with a very steady demand. As the Indian places his surplus cash in gold and silver ornaments so the Burman is inclined to invest his savings in rubies and diamonds, which may be realized upon readily in time of financial stress.

In 1905 the exports of rubies amounted to $273,000, in 1906 to $265,000, in 1907 to $327,000, and in 1908 to only a little more than $2,000. Practically the entire export is to Great Britian.--Consul E. A. Wakefield, of Rangoon.