Human Migration

Ophir perhaps = Serendip?
The 10th-century lexicographer, David ben Abraham al-Fasi, identified Ophir with Serendip, the old Persian name for Sri Lanka (aka Ceylon).[3]

Sri Lanka is well-endowed with industrial minerals including
Graphite, Ilmenite, Rutile, Zircon, Quartz, Feldspar, Clay, Kaolin, Apatite
(Phosphate Rock),Silica Sand, Garnet sand, Mica, Calcite and Dolomite.
Pulmoddai beach sand deposit is the most important non-ferrous mineral reserve in Sri Lanka to date.
This deposit contains minerals including one of the most expensive and sought after metals in the world - titanium.
Ilmanite (FeTiO2) and rutile (TiO2) are found in enormous concentrations in the Pulmoddai beach sand deposit area.
Several other beach mineral-sand deposits of Monazite, Zircon ,
garnet and Ilmanite are found in various parts of the island and are now being exported.

The use of graphite in Sri Lanka has a long history, that dates back to 1675.
Sri Lankan graphite has gained popularity all over the world for its high purity
and offers many processing applications in graphite lubricants,
flake graphite, carbon brushes, refractory bricks and midget electrodes and nano-technology.

Three main types of clay - kaolinite, ball clay and brick clay - are used for export industries.
Yellow, red and blue colour ball clay is found in Sri Lanka’s hill country.
These are used to make casts and as refractory material because of their attributes of strength and high plasticity.
Brick clay is found in most of the river valleys and is commonly used in the production of bricks and tiles.
Quartz, ball clay, silica and feldspar are utilized in the ceramics and glass industries with great success;
the country's porcelain is ranked among the best in the world.

Sri Lanka’s natural resources include another valuable economic mineral reserve known as apatite rock phosphate.
It is estimated that the reserve consists of 60 million tones of apatite which is generally used to produce phosphate fertilizer.

Serendipities: Language & Lunacy
Umberto Eco, Author, William Weaver, Translator Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P $12.95 (144p) ISBN 978-0-15-600751-1

Consider the platypus. With its famous molelike body carrying a beaver's tail and a duck's beak, the beast confounded the first Western scientists who studied it in 1798. Was it a mammal or a reptile? Did it lay eggs? Was it just a taxonomic hoax? The platypus eventually found its rightful place in the animal kingdom, but as Eco (Travels in Hyperreality, etc.) shows in these challenging essays, the questions it raised about language and perception still animate some sharply contested semiotic debates. Writing with his customary keenness of intellect, Eco ranges widely over metaphysical terrain, drawing on Aristotle, Heidegger and C.S. Peirce to inform his discussions. Revising aspects of Kant's philosophy in terms of cognitive studies, Eco ponders how we identify the things around us and argues that meaning in the world is ultimately contractual and negotiable. When Aztecs first saw horses ridden by Spanish conquistadors, for example, they used their previous knowledge to surmise that the invaders were riding deer. In another example, Eco investigates how we can recognize a Bach suite for solo cello, even when played by different soloists or transcribed for the recorder. Throughout, Eco gamely reconsiders his 1976 work, A Theory of Semiotics, over which many a gauntlet was testily thrown, and revisits other key moments in the history of semiotic research. This collection will certainly appeal to specialists. But Eco's ability to balance technical subject matter with broadly intelligible anecdotes and illustrations should make it valuable and pleasurable for anyone seeking a gallant introduction to the philosophy of language. (Nov.) FYI: Also in November Harvest will release Eco's Serendipities in paperback ($12, ISBN 0-15-600751-7)