"'The Mountains of Badakhshan have given their name to the
Badakhshi Ruby, vulgarly called Al Balaksh." Albertus Magnus says the
Balagius is the female of the Carbuncle or Ruby Proper, "and some say it
is his house, and hath thereby got the name, quasi Palatium Carbunculi!"
The Balais or Balas Ruby is, like the Spinel, a kind inferior to the real
Ruby of Ava. The author of the Masalak al Absar says the finest Balas
ever seen in the Arab countries was one presented to Malek 'Adil Ketboga,
at Damascus; it was of a triangular form and weighed 50 drachms. The
prices of Balasci in Europe in that age may be found in Pegolotti, but
the needful problems are hard to solve.
"No sapphire in Inde, no Rubie rich of price,
There lacked than, nor Emeraud so grene,
Bales, Turkes, ne thing to my device."
(Chaucer, 'Court of Love.')
"L'altra letizia, che m'era gia nota,
Preclara cosa mi si fece in vista,
Qual fin balascio in che lo Sol percuoto."
(Paradiso, ix. 67.)
Some account of the Balakhsh from Oriental sources will be found in J.
As. ser V. tom. xi. 109.
(I. B. III. 59, 394; Alb. Mag. de Mineralibus; Pegol. p. 307; N. et
E. XIII. i. 246.)
["The Mohammedan authors of the Mongol period mention Badakhshan several
times in connection with the political and military events of that period.
Guchluk, the 'gurkhan of Karakhitai,' was slain in Badakhshan in 1218
(d'Ohsson, I. 272). In 1221, the Mongols invaded the country (l.c. I.
272). On the same page, d'Ohsson translates a short account of Badakhshan
by Yakut (+ 1229), stating that this mountainous country is famed for its
precious stones, and especially rubies, called Balakhsh."
(Bretschneider, Med.
