How and why were these sapphires deposited in globular forms when the law of crystallization is so rigid and inflexible? This is a question which requires considerable assurance to answer, in the view that they are original depositions; but Nature offers many examples to sustain the theory if we search her domain; for instance, how were the rounded nodules of flint formed in the chalk-beds? Their shape is not due to attrition, and their peculiar arrangement forbids the belief that they have been rolled or abraded by the agency of water. In the interior of solid ledges we find nodules of quartz with rounded edges, as though they had been exposed to some dissolving agency or abrading force; yet they have been beyond the reach of external violence. Hence we must conclude that their globular form is perhaps due to some deviation in the usual process of deposition or crystallization. Huronite occurs in spherical masses in hornblendic bowlders; and we may find nodules of tourmaline in the interior of the most perfect crystals of the mineral. There are other examples. The Cingalese do the mining and sell the gems to Moors, who resort to Ratnapoora to attend the jewel fair, which is held at the annual Buddhist festival of the Pera. Purchasers not only from all parts of Ceylon, but India, come to buy gems at this time. It has therefore become the great jewel mart of the world; and one can find there many of the rare and beautiful gems found in other parts of the world: the emeralds of Peru, the topazes of Brazil, the opals of Honduras, the turquoises of Persia, the jade of China; in fact, most of the gems that have a commercial value, or any tradition attached thereto, are to be found at these fairs. They are of greater importance than the famous fairs at Novgorod in Russia, to which the gems and precious stones of Northern and Central Asia are annually sent.