The great merchant-traveller Cosmas Indicopleustes, of Alexandria, writes in his “Voyages” (1666) of this stone, which “they say is of great size and brilliant ruddy hue, as large as a giant pine cone. When seen flashing from afar—especially if the Sun’s rays flood upon it—it is a sight both marvellous and unequalled.” Hayton, his contemporary, also writes of this wonderful stone: “At the King of the Island of Ceylon’s coronation he places this ruby in his left hand and rides thus with it throughout his city, after which all know him as their King and obey him as such.” The Chinese writer Hyuen Tsang also writes of this great stone, as does Odoric. Friar Jordamus discourses not only of this but of the great and wonderful rubies in the possession of the Island King. Andrea Corsali (1515) also writes of the King of Sylen’s (Ceylon) two great rubies—“so shining and sparkling as to seem like flames of fire.” In the Ceylon river beds fine rubies are discovered, and old writers say that many are washed down from the mountain “which they call Adam’s Peak.” There was superstitious belief in the beautiful Island of Ceylon that rubies are the consolidated tears of Buddha. One of the great mediaeval Tamul chiefs, Arya Chakravarti, had, it is said, a ruby bowl the size of the palm of a man’s hand, which was remarkable for its brilliant colour. Colonel Alexander Gardner, Colonel of Artillery in the service of Maharaja Ranyit Singh, describes a visit he made with the Bai or Baron of the Kirghiz to a venerable aged fakir whose worldly possessions seemed to consist of earthen pots of grain placed in a hole in the middle of his hut. The old philosopher was the reputed possessor of a rare and beautiful ruby. For this the Bai entreated the silent and unmoved fakir, declaring that with it alone could he induce the robber chief he was travelling to see to spare “the lives, property and honour of all the innocent families around.” At last the fakir quietly arose, and after a little fumbling produced the gem which, with a dignified gesture, he placed softly in the Bai’s hands, giving him his blessing and expressing the hope that the offering might have the desired result, after which he relapsed into silent reverie. He declined money for the gem, asking only that some grain might be sent him so “that he might be able to relieve way-worn and destitute travellers.” The Colonel examined the gem and found cut in high relief on the centre of the oblong face of the stone a small Zoroastrian altar. Round this altar were double cordons of letters similar to those appearing on the Scytho Bactrian coins. The Colonel describes the gem as pure and lustrous, of great value, and from 150 to 200 carats in weight. This rare gem was discovered at the time of Timur by an ancestor of the fakir in a cave near the famous shrine of the city of Esh or Oosh on the Bolor Ranges.