Ceylon Island Of Gems

This thin 79 pages book makes clear in simple, and often entertaining, language, the basic facts about stones; both precious and semiprecious. There are tips for the tourist on how to gauge gems, and a short anecdotal history of gems from Ceylon. Among the pages one would find sections on minerals; can stones lose their colour?; mining; the definition of a carat; what are precious stones made of?; testing gems; moon stones; gem cutting; varieties of gems found in Ceylon; elephant hair jewels, etc. This book was originally published in Colombo.