193
The profit on the exchange was due to the superiority of the Roman coinage to that of India, which latter was still crude, of base metal (bronze or lead), for which even the bullion, (copper, tin and lead), was imported.
49. Ivory. — For references see Lassen, I, 311-315. The original word is ibha, 1 ‘elephant. ” From this came the word used in I Kings, X, 22, shen habbiti, “elephant’s teeth,” which the Hebrews shortened to shen, “tooth,” which is the word used in Amos, III, 15; Cant. V, 14. In ancient Egypt this word ibha became abu, whence the Roman and Etruscan ebur for ivory. The Greek elephas , or rather the root form elephantos, applied first to the ivory and later to the animal, was the Arabic article el and the Sanscrit ibhadanta , “elephant’s teeth.”
49. Agate and carnelian. — See also under § 6. The text is onychine lithia kai mourrhine.
According to Watt {op. cit., 561), the murrhine vases and other articles which were so highly prized in Mediterranean countries, were largely of agate, carnelian and the like, and came from the Gulf of Cambay, which was the chief market for that Indian industry.
The stone is from the amygdaloidal Hows of the Deccan trap, chiefly from the State of Rajpipla. The most important place at which agates are now cut is Cambay, but the industry exists also at Jabbal- pur and elsewhere within reach of the Deccan trap. They are much used for ornamental and decorative purposes, being made into brooches, rings, seals, cups, etc.
While collecting the pebbles the miners divide them into two primary classes — those that are not improved by burning, and those that are. Of the former there are three — onyx, cat’s eye, and a yellow half-clear pebble called rori. All other stones are baked to bring out their color. During the hot season, generally in March and April, the stones are spread in the sun in an open field. Then, in May, a trench, two feet deep by three wide, is dug round the field. The pebbles are gathered into earthen pots, which, with their mouths down and a hole broken in their bottoms, are set in a row in the trench. Round the pots, goat or cow-dung cakes are piled, and the whole kept burning from sunset to sunrise. The pots are then taken out, the stones examined, and the good ones stowed in bags. About the end of May the bags are carried to the Narbada and floated to Broach (Barygaza).
By this treatment the light browns brighten into white, and the darker shades into chestnut. Of yellows, maize becomes rosy, orange deepens into red, and an intermediate shade becomes a pinkish purple.
