DIAMONDS AND CARBONS IN BRAZIL 



277 



with which to stir up diamond-bearing gravel in a sluice; a crowbar 

 to pry up stone to lay bare deeper layers or to break down banks of 

 clay or gravel; an iron hook on a pole with which to take diamond- 

 bearing gravel from beneath large stones or from cracks otherwise 

 inaccessible ; a small wooden basin, called c carimbe/ for carrying the 

 gravel on the head ; a large wooden basin, called ' bateia,' for final 

 washing and concentrating the gravel; some kind of a sieve, from a 

 tin can with nail holes to a more pretentious wire sieve, for sorting 

 gravel and sand during the washing or concentrating process; a ham- 

 mer and drill for making holes in rock for blasting, but quite often 

 instead fire is built upon a rock desired to be remove!, and after the 



Fig. 3. Home of Miner, built *nder Ledge from which Diamonds and 

 Carbons have been removed. 



rock has become very hot cold water is poured thereon, effectively 

 cracking it and permitting its removal. 



In the home of the carbon there are no carbon or other mechanical 

 drills. At present one man can make from two to three holes a day, 

 which with proper methods could be made in a few minutes. 



The method of mining differs in various sections. In the richest 

 areas the work is of two kinds : removing the subsoil surface disintegra- 

 tion and gravel and that in the gullies, cracks and beneath the more 

 accessible stones, or mining by tunnels or following cracks into the 

 pockets of the mountains, taking out the diamond- and carbon-bearing 

 material consisting of soil, sand, gravel, boulders, broken and disin- 

 tegrated stone, etc., called ' cascalho.' 



