corundum, Madagascar.12, gems

Based on Lacroix’s account of his four-month mineralogical exploration of Madagascar, this paper describes the island’s remarkable gem-bearing pegmatites and the rapid development of gemstone prospecting following the French occupation. Lacroix reviews earlier reports of precious stones dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and notes the failure of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century attempts at exploitation. He then discusses Madagascar’s abundant beryls and other gem minerals, emphasizing the exceptional quality of its pink beryls and yellow tourmalines, which he considered unrivaled elsewhere. The article is an important early firsthand account of Madagascar’s emergence as a major source of gem minerals and was translated into English the following year as “A Trip to Madagascar, the Country of Beryls” in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution.