. Precious stones, a popular account of their characters, occurrence and applications, with an introduction to their determination, for mineralogists, lapidaries, jewellers, etc. With an appendix on pearls and coral. Precious stones; Pearls; Corals. 278 SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTION OF PRECIOUS STONES. Fig. 57. Ruby mines in Badatshan on the Upper Oxus. (Scale, 1 :6,000,000.) The ruby mines of Badakshan were famous in olden times, and they supplied some of the vast store of treasure amassed by the Great Mogul. They are situated (Fig. 57) in Shignan, on the bend of the Oxus river, which is directed to
. Precious stones, a popular account of their characters, occurrence and applications, with an introduction to their determination, for mineralogists, lapidaries, jewellers, etc. With an appendix on pearls and coral. Precious stones; Pearls; Corals. 278 SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTION OF PRECIOUS STONES. Fig. 57. Ruby mines in Badatshan on the Upper Oxus. (Scale, 1 :6,000,000.) The ruby mines of Badakshan were famous in olden times, and they supplied some of the vast store of treasure amassed by the Great Mogul. They are situated (Fig. 57) in Shignan, on the bend of the Oxus river, which is directed to the south-west, in latitude about 37° N. and longitude 71 i° E. They lie between the upper course of the Oxus and its right tributary the Turt, near Gharan, a place the name of which is said to signify "mine," sixteen miles below the town of Barshar, in the lower, not the higher, mountain ranges. This locality is by no means a familiar one, and reports as to the mode of occurrence of the ruby here are very conflicting. According to one they are found in a white earth; according to another in a red sandstone; while yet a third states them to be found in a magnesian limestone. From analogy with the Burmese occurrence, the last-named mode of occurrence seems the most probable. Rubies are said to have been found formerly in these mines in large numbers, and associated with the variety of spinel known as " balas-ruby.'" Marco Polo, who visited the mines in the thirteenth century, states that the output from them was strictly limited by the ruler of the country in order to keep up the value. Part of the output was paid away as tribute to the Mongol Emperor, another part to other rulers, while the remainder was put into the market. The yield appears to have fallen off in later times, till in the end work was altogether discontinued. It is stated that the mines were reopened in the year 1866 ; whether they are being worked at the present day or not is unknown, bu
Size: 1807px × 1383px
Photo credit: © Central Historic Books / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectpreciousstones, booky
