Note 268 — Chapter I · Continued.—Alexander advancing farther into the interior of India, passes through forests and deserts—Crosses the Hydraotes—Besieges and captures Sangala, and enters the kingdom of Sopithes, who receives him with great hospitality and shows him a dog and lion fight

“The Indians,” says Solinus (c. 55), “rub down the beryl into hexagonal forms in order to impart vigour to the dull tameness of the colour by the reflection from the angles. Of the beryl the varieties are manifold.” Pliny, from whom Solinus no doubt drew this information, states (xxxvii. 5) that beryls were seldom found elsewhere than in India, and that the Indians had discovered how to make counterfeit gems and especially beryls by staining crystal.