[Footnote 1:  Mr. BAKER, in a work entitled The Rifle and the Hound in Ceylon, thus describes the sands of the Manic Ganga, near the ruins of Mahagam, in the south-eastern extremity of the island:—­“The sand was composed of mica, quartz, sapphire, ruby, and jacinth; but the large proportion of ruby sand was so extraordinary that it seemed to rival Sinbad’s story of the vale of gems.  The whole of this was valueless, but the appearance of the sand was very inviting, as the shallow stream in rippling over it magnified the tiny gems into stones of some magnitude.  I passed an hour in vainly searching for a ruby worth collecting, but the largest did not exceed the size of a mustard seed.”—­BAKER’S Rifle and Hound in Ceylon, p. 181.]

Of late years considerable energy has been shown by those engaged in the search for gems; neglected districts have been explored, and new fields have been opened up at such places as Karangodde and Weraloopa, whence stones have been taken of unusual size and value.

It is not, however, in the recent strata of gravel, nor in those now in process of formation, that the natives search for gems.  They penetrate these to the depth of from ten to twenty feet, in order to reach a lower deposit distinguished by the name of Nellan, in which the objects of their search are found.  This is of so early a formation that it underlies the present beds of rivers, and is generally separated from them or from the superincumbent gravel by a hard crust (called Kadua), a few inches in thickness, and so consolidated as to have somewhat the appearance of laterite, or of sun-burnt brick.  The nellan is for the most part horizontal, but occasionally it is raised into an incline as it approaches the base of the hills.  It appears to have been deposited previous to the eruption of the basalt, on which in some places it reclines, and to have undergone some alteration from the contact.  It consists of water-worn pebbles firmly imbedded in clay, and occasionally there occur large lumps of granite and gneiss, in the hollows under which, as well as in “pockets” in the clay (which from their shape the natives denominate “elephants’ footsteps”) gems are frequently found in groups as if washed in by the current.

The persons who devote themselves to this uncertain pursuit are chiefly Singhalese, and the season selected by them for “gemming” is between December and March, when the waters are low.[1] The poorer and least enterprising adventurers betake themselves to the beds of streams, but the most certain though the most costly course is to sink pits in the adjacent plains, which are consequently indented with such traces of recent explorers.  The upper gravel is pierced, the covering crust is reached and broken through, and the nellan being shovelled into conical baskets and washed to free it from the sand, the residue is carefully searched for whatever rounded crystals and minute gems it may contain.