Abide With Me

Singhala Patal

SaMi and  Wei Ying arrived bright and early at the Singhala Patal. Outlining their steps, Wei Ying said, "You will have access to the paperwork, so you can try to see if there have been new additions to the workforce. Are there any DaNi among them?"

"What type of gems are most commonly found in the mine? Their grade, quality, size, inclusions ...." continued SaMi, diligently.

As Wei Ying looked up, dazed at this sudden flood of required data, SaMi gave a cheeky grin and pulled out 'Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of Singhala Mines'! "You're a Brat, you are," laughed  Wei Ying, "but a very intelligent brat!" SaMi held out a small paw and Wei Ying smilingly put in her daily quota of chocolate-covered hawthorn candy flown in especially from Yunmeng by Albatross couriers!

Munching away steadily, SaMi started flipping the pages of the silk book. A sudden inspiration siezed We Ying. He bolted to Madam Aulia's office.

Madam Aulia was wading through this morning's exchange rates, trying to decide whether selling the emeralds found last week to the Torres Strait Islanders* would be profitable. They were going to pay in South Sea pearls!! Meanwhile, the Pandiyans* had lined the entire Bay in the north of Lanka with an Armada, waiting for their emeralds and rubies. The rubies were cut, polished, and finished, lying in the safety vault of the Singhala mines. The Emeralds were in short supply and Madam Aulia was fast developing a migraine, trying to decide between profit and commitment!!

It was with an irritated frown that she looked up at the knock but it vanished at the sight of  Wei Ying's angelic smile. His joyous greeting accompanied by his uplifted eyebrows made her feel inexplicably bubbly inside. She gestured for them to come in. "Ayubowan,  Madam Aulia, we are eager to start our project," said SaMi. 

"Project, yes, yes," Madam Aulia concurred distractedly. "What do you want to do, see the mines?" 

"I would very much like that!" said Wei Ying, with another smile. "SaMi can look at your records in the meanwhile."

"What records?" asked Madam Aulia sharply. 

"Number and depth of mines, layers of rock, geological peculiarities, quantum of earth excavated, number of gems found, number of workers etcetra to begin with," rattled off SaMi, with a hopeful expression.

 "The last two are easy," said Madam Aulia and pointed to two large silk ledgers on her bookshelf. "Help yourself," she advised SaMi before adding breezily, "Take your time, lunch will be served!" She stepped out and hooked her arm through Wei Ying's and added, "I will keep your Uncle company in the mines." Wei Ying looked astonished and wryly rubbed his ring with a  nervous smile fixed on his face.

Lan Zhan stood in front of the Sara tree, grinned at Wei Ying's predicament, and whispered, "It's all right, I understand, for now! We can settle later!" he added cheekily while turning his ring around his finger.

Madam Aulia led the way to one of the adits and explained to Wei Ying that the mine shafts went vertically down the hillside. Metal barrows were winched up and down by laborers using pulleys. The barrows carried excavated soil, the miners, and their mining tools.

As Wei Ying watched, barrows were pulled out by strong men, a couple of burly DaNi and hefty Beavers. Huge amounts of dirt were transported onto baskets and these were hauled to the surface. At the surface, several elderly Da Ni stood with a piping system made of split bamboo tubes. They poured water through the soil held in bamboo baskets with bases holding sieves of different sizes. Any stones were kept back and the mud washed away. It was simple, effective, and well, muddy! 

The stones were then sorted by a group of experienced Parakeets* into different containers first by type of gemstones, then by size. Rubies, diamonds, sapphires, carnelian, tourmalines, and topaz all were seen, but the gemstones were all small, not even the size of peas.