hy number only in India,
Borneo, Brazil, and the Transvaal. Tropical America is the home-land
of the emerald, Brazil of the topaz, Ceylon of the sapphire and the
hyacinth, Pegu of the ruby, and Persia of the turquoise. With the
exception of the diamond the same stones are found also in the
north, but in a common form. Thus common sapphire (corundum) is
found in Gellivare iron ore so plentifully that the ore from certain
openings is difficult to smelt. Common topaz is found in masses by
the hundredweight in the neighbourhood of Falun; common emerald is
found in thick crystals several feet in length in felspar quarries,
in Roslagen, and in Tammela and Kisko parishes in Finland; common
spinel occurs abundantly in Aker limestone quarry; common zircon at
Brevig in Norway, and turquoise-like but badly coloured stones at
Vestana in Skane. True precious stones, on the other hand, are not
found at any of these places. Another remarkable fact in connection
with precious stones is that most of those that come into the market
are not found in the solid rock, but as loose grains in sand-beds.
True jewel mines are few, unproductive, and easily exhausted. From
this one would be inclined to suppose that precious stones actually
undergo an ennobling process in the warm soil of the south.

During the excursion I undertook from Galle to Ratnapoora, I visited
a number of temples in order to procure Pali, Singhalese, and
Sanscrit manuscripts; and I put myself in communication with various
natives who were supposed to possess such manuscripts. They are now
very difficult to get at, and the collection I made was not very
large. The books which the temples wished to dispose of have long
ago been eagerly brought up by private collectors or handed over to
public museums, for example, to the Ceylon Government Oriental
Library established at Colombo[391]. The collector who remains a
considerable time in the region, may however be able to reap a rich
after-harvest, less of the classical works preserved in the temples
than of the smaller popular writings in the hands of private
persons.

We see in Ceylon innumerable descendants of the races who repeatedly
subdued larger or smaller portions of the island, or carried on
traffic there, as Moormen (Arabs), Hindoos, Jews, Portuguese,
Dutchmen, Englishmen, &c., but the main body of the people at all
events varies very little, and still consists of the two allied
races, Tamils and Singhalese, who for th