It is strange that although the sapphire is found in all this region in greater quantity than the ruby, it has never yet been discovered in the original matrix, and the small fragments which sometimes occur in dolomite show that there it is but a deposit.  From its exquisite colour and the size in which it is commonly found, it forms by far the most valuable gem of the island.  A piece which was dug out of the alluvium within a few miles of Ratnapoora in 1853, was purchased by a Moor at Colombo, in whose hands it was valued at upwards of four thousand pounds.

The original site of the oriental topaz is equally unknown with that of the sapphire.  The Singhalese rightly believe them to be the same stone only differing in colour, and crystals are said to be obtained with one portion yellow and the other blue.

Garnets of inferior quality are common in the gneiss, but finer ones are found in the hornblende rocks.

Cinnamon-stone (which is properly a variety of garnet) is so extremely abundant, that vast rocks containing it in profusion exist in many places, especially in the alluvium around Matura; and at Belligam, a few miles east from Point-de-Galle, a vast detached rock is so largely composed of cinnamon-stones that it is carried off in lumps for the purpose of extracting and polishing them.

The Cat’s-eye is one of the jewels of which the Singhalese are especially proud, from a belief that it is only found in their island; but in this I apprehend they are misinformed, as specimens of equal merit have been brought from Quilon and Cochin on the southern coast of Hindostan.  The cat’s-eye is a greenish translucent quartz, and when cut en cabochon it presents a moving internal reflection which is ascribed to the presence of filaments of asbestos.  Its perfection is estimated by the natives in proportion to the narrowness and sharpness of the ray and the pure olive-tint of the ground over which it plays.

Amethysts are found in the gneiss, and some discoloured though beautiful specimens in syenite; they are too common to be highly esteemed.  The “Matura Diamonds,” which are largely used by the native jewellers, consist of zircon, found in the syenite not only uncoloured, but also of pink and yellow tints, the former passing for rubies.

But one of the prettiest though commonest gems in the island is the “Moon-stone,” a variety of pearly adularia presenting chatoyant rays when simply polished.  They are so abundant that the finest specimens may be bought for a few shillings.  These, with aqua marina, a bad description of opal rock crystal in extremely large pieces, tourmaline, and a number of others of no great value, compose the list of native gems procurable in Ceylon.[1] Diamonds, emeralds, agates, carnelians, opal and turquoise, when they are exhibited by the natives, have all been imported from India.

[Footnote 1:  Caswini and some of the Arabian geographers assert that the diamond is found at Adam’s Peak; but this is improbable, as there is no formation resembling the cascalhao of Brazil or the diamond conglomerate of Golconda.  If diamonds were offered for sale in Ceylon, in the time of the Arab navigators, they must have been brought thither from India, (Journ.  As.  Soc.  Beng. xiii. 633.)]