The chief home of the ruby is Burmah. From its mines and those of Siam and Ceylon have come practically all the world’s supply of rubies. The most important Burmese mines are in Mogouk, ninety miles north of Mandalay. The rubies were evidently formed in limestone, which is now much decomposed, and seem to have been the result of metamorphism of the limestone by the entrance of eruptive rocks. The ruby-bearing earth is known as “byon,” and the stones are obtained from it by washing. The rubies are usually in the form of more or less complete crystals. The mines have been worked since the British occupation of Burmah in 1886 by a British company, and there can be little doubt that a desire to acquire these mines was the chief reason for the occupation. The mines have not proved very profitable, however, and only within the last year or two has the company been able to pay any dividends. The hope of success has lain in the introduction of machinery for washing the byon more cheaply than it could be done by the primitive native methods, and it is now believed by the introduction of an electrical power plant that this has been accomplished. This company now produces at least one-half the annual yield of rubies of the world. Previous to the English working of the mines the ruby mining was performed by local miners under control of the native government, all rubies above a certain size going to the king. Whenever a ruby of unusual size was found a procession of grandees, with soldiers and elephants, was sent out to meet it. One of the titles of the King of Burmah was Lord of the Rubies. The Siamese rubies come from near Bangkok, on the Gulf of Siam. They occur in a clay which seems to be the product of alteration of a besalt. These rubies are not equal in quality to those of Burmah. Rubies are also found in the gem gravels of Ceylon and in Afghanistan, thirty-two miles east of Cabul. In our own country ruby Corundum is occasionally found in connection with opaque Corundum in Macon County, North Carolina. In the gravels of Caler Fork of Cowee Creek of this county good rubies are found in sufficient quantity to reward systematic mining for them. These rubies are mostly small, but some gems of three or four carats’ weight and of excellent color have been obtained. Among the Montana sapphires an occasional red stone is found, but they do not have the choicest red color.