Note 217 — Chapter X

I have never seen or heard that gems are polished in Europe on a flat stone; and that, during this operation, they are directed merely by the hand. On the contrary, the lapidaries employ a wheel, driven by the foot; and having affixed to it small bits of tin, daubed over with emery and diamond-powder. By these the stones are cut down till they acquire the necessary form. In the island of Ceylon the small gems, which are found chiefly in the sand of the rivers near Punto do Gale, are rubbed backwards and forwards between two boards of hard wood, one of which is fixed, with the powder of the Corundam stone, or so-called diamond-spar, found in great abundance in the Gauts, near Tirunavati, and at Cape Comorin or Comari, in the granite rocks, until they acquire that long round form under which they are brought to Europe. These Corundam stones are used also for polishing steel. F.