The word BALAS has been written as balace, baless, balays, balais, balass. It is derived from the Arabic BALAKHSH which, says Albertus Magnus, is the female of the real ruby “and some say it is his house.” That prolific writer on precious stones, Andrea Bacci (16th and 17th centuries), echoes older thought also when he writes that “Balas is derived from PALATIUS, a palace, which is the palace where the ruby lives.” He echoes the symbolic ideas of the old Greek writers who said that the true ruby resided in a palace—clearly showing that they knew the difference between rubies and spinels. Marco Polo’s remarks are as follows: “In this Provence (Badachschan), those fine and valuable gems the Balas rubies are found. They are got in certain rocks among the mountains and in the search for them the people dig great caves beneath the earth just as is done by miners for silver. There is but one special mountain that produces them and it is called Syghinan. The stones are dug on the King’s account and no one else dares dig on pain of death as well as of seizure of worldly possessions, nor may any take the gems out of the Kingdom. The King collects them all and sends them to other kings as tribute or as presents. He so acts in order to keep the Balas at a great value for if he allowed all persons to mine for them the world would be filled with them and they would be valueless.” In Persia there is a story which tells that they were found in a destroyed mountain after an earthquake. The Indians know the stone as the “Pomegranate Ruby” (Lal Rumani), and the King of Oude is said to have had a remarkable and beautiful specimen as big as the egg of a pigeon, which was known as “Lal-i-jaladi.” The beautiful heart-shaped Balass which is set in the British Crown under the Black Cross known as the “Black Prince’s Ruby,” is said to have been obtained in Spain by Prince Edward when he was aiding Don Pedro of Castillo to hold his throne. It is reported that this was the gem worn by King Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt. This may have been the “fair great ruby” which Sir James Melville says Queen Elizabeth valued so highly. Elizabeth was very fond of spinels of which she possessed some splendid specimens, as shown in the still extant inventories of the personal effects of the Queen. An inspection of her nativity will show that they were gems of good omen for her. Madame de Barrera gives an extract from Robert de Berquen’s “Merveilles des Indes Orientales et Occidentales” wherein it is stated that “Josephus Barbaro, a Venetian gentleman, says in a report made to the Signori of Venice that when he was ambassador for the Republic at the court of Yussum Cassan, King of Persia, on a certain day of the year 1472 when he was received in solemn audience, that prince showed him a handkerchief filled with the rarest and most inestimable precious stones. Among others there was a table-cut Balass ruby, of a beautiful