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Show THE CITV 01' KK3IS. how Tim iimvsrnra ok ceylo: ari: 'MuiiriuaANr.Kisi) TllK.Il: WAV Tu 1JOS- nos. J'altiaiuira, the city of genw, i p the ceuttT of a district twmty o thirty mllm fquan-, In alnict al of Mhich n stratum of ;rarl th - fct-t to tnunty feU uiiilcr tlieurfaci exUtv. Throughout this anil giu Its are to be seen nt-ar the villagtn oiue being worhud now, others bo I in); abautionnl. The natives worSi there in couijjnii-j of ix or eight, and iy a ni(iee ler man ikt month fortheiirivili-geof working a ivr tain allbtmuiit, where they begin I' nuirklng otT a Kuaru of alout tec feet. After removing aliout threu feet ! of m11, the sounding rtU, a piece ol iron about half an Inch In Uinmtler and lx feet long, is uteJ to pound for the gravel. If tuectfful tilt tilggiug is begun In earnttt till abuut four feet Ueen. On tlietecoud day tho gravel is taken out by baskets bas-kets and hautleil from one man to another till ail nithin thcHi'jare U excavated. cjIiouM the miners lintl the soil fairly firm at the Inltom ol tlie pit they tunnel all around fof about two feet, drawing out the gmvel and tending It up afco to be Iiea;ii with (he rest, v. hieli uuially ' romplrles the work, of the second day: a watchman n mains near It all night. On the liiird day ills all washed In a wicker U-ukit by a circular jtikiug motion, whldi throws out all the surplus light ttonc and rul-bkli, rul-bkli, till a good quantity of heavy gravel is kit at tlie bottom w hich Is carefu lly eiamfricj. Thero b hardly hard-ly a basketful that does aot contain tome genu of Infuior value, which are usually mIJ by tlie pound for about nine rupees. Should no valuable val-uable stones be found, another pit la Mink, and to on until ono or tuo or ier!iaM three really valuable gems are unearthed, when the wuik H toi'ped an J tlie w hole larty goes oil" to ICituapjra w 1th the prize. I f tlieyn am worth mv a few thousand thous-and rupee?, they are kc t fecn-t and only shown to one or two men of money, who make the onners an advance to lock nftcr the ruttody of tlie precious stones. Then they gjmbioand drink for some time till another advance lieenmes iiecefcsari-, and so on until half the value Is obtained. ob-tained. Then tlie arty. with the mnttgages,proceeiIstoColumbo, or I talutara, where rich Moorish trad-trs trad-trs are summoned to purcliase, and the gems toon find their way to Ijoudou. The general public kirow uotlilng about them IraiLsaction", anil valuable genu are never heard of In Ceylon, and crcc)y tee the light of day till they reach Ilond ktreet. The natives have a great fear of exposing their tiuds until they are told, ami thev have most extraordinary extraordi-nary tupcrstliious Idtas about tlio-lug tlio-lug tliem. Tlib. i stem Ius been in vogue for centuries st- It is only ooeasionally one hears of any native having enterprise enougli to dig a few feet below the first gravel lo see If, by sounding, a second bed of gravel Is within reach, for they fear the expense of tailing out water, which increases as the greater depth is attained, although the second gravel is well kiion u to bo much richer than the firsL Kreianse. |