170 ■ DIAMONDS AND 



Fig. 2. — Teeth of tlie two-toed sloth, Cholcejms didadylus; the first of 

 the upper and lower series, from their length and peculiar 

 form, are called "canine." 



,, 3. — Magnified section of molar tooth of the Megatherium : — v., 

 vaso-dentine ; t. , dentine ; c. , cement. 



2)iamon&6 anb tbeir Ibietor^* 



By James A. Forster. 



SECOND PART. 



WE have now to consider the occurrence and geological dis. 

 tribution of the Diamond, more especially in South 

 Africa, where for the first time in its history the Diamond 

 has been found in its parent rock. 



The Diamonds known to the ancients undoubtedly came from 

 India, perhaps from the fabled mines of Golconda. These mines 

 were really not situated at Golconda, but some distance from that 

 place, which was merely the fort to which the produce of the 

 mines was brought. In the i6th century. Diamonds were ener- 

 getically sought for in India. Of the actual mines there we know 

 but little ; the Portuguese author, Garcias ab Herta, writing in 

 1565, gives some description of them, but his work is not of much 

 scientific value, beyond establishing the fact that the Diamonds 

 were washed from a pebbly gravel. Tavernier, the French tra- 

 veller, a century later, describes the Indian Diamond-fields, many 

 of which, he informs us, w^re then closed, and confirms the state- 

 ment that the Diamonds were either found in river-beds or washed 

 from alluvial gravel. Recently, I gave a geological friend of mine 

 who happened to be in India a commission to survey the old Dia- 

 mond district in the Madras Presidency, my firm then holding the 

 concession for working it. He made the survey very carefully, and 

 reported that the district had evidently been thoroughly worked 

 out. The specimens of the gravels he sent me are very similar to 

 those from Brazil. At present, very few Diamonds are found 

 in India, and scarcely any rough from there finds its way to 

 Europe. On the contrary, large quantities of rough and cut 

 Cape Diamonds are sent to India by the London merchants. 



