← A Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar in the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century
Chapter 11
Account of Other Rubies of Ceylon
In the second India there is an island called Ceylan, where many rubies are found, which the Indians call manica, most of these do not reach the perfection of the others in colour, because they are red, and pale, and ruddy. They are very hard and very cold, and, those which are found in all their perfection of colour are very highly valued amongst them. And the king of that island has them found, and keeps the perfect ones for himself, which he sells with his own hand: and when the lapidaries clean them if they find one very white they put it by his orders into the fire for a certain number of hours, and if it endures the fire and comes out sound it remains of a brighter colour. Such a stone is of great value, and those of this kind which the King of Narsynga can get into his hands, he orders them to be bored with a very fine hole on the underneath side so that the hole reaches to the centre, and they do not pass it, because the stone can no longer leave the kingdom, and that it may be known that it has been tried in the fire. And so also these are worth more than those of Peygu. Their prices are the following if they are perfect in colour and purity:—
One which weighs a carat, which is half a fanam, is worth in Calicut thirty fanoes
xxx fs. 30
One of two carats lxxv fs. 75
One of three carats cl fs. 150
One of three carats and a half cc fs. 200
One of four carats ccc fs. 300
One of four carats and a half cccl fs. 350
One of five carats cccc fs. 400
One of five carats and a half ccccl fs. 450
One of six carats dxxx fs. 530
One of six carats and a half dlx fs. 560
One of seven carats dcxxx fs. 630
One of seven carats and a half dcclx fs. 760
One of eight carats very good and tried in the fire is worth
dccc fs. 800
Such a one of eight carats and a half dcccc fs. 900
Such a one of nine carats IUC fs. 1,100
Such a one of ten carats IUCCC fs. 1,300
One of eleven carats of this kind IUDC fs. 1,600
One of twelve carats nU fs. 2,000
One of fourteen carats mU fs. 3,000
One of sixteen carats Viu fs. 6,000