THEIR HISTORY. 171 



Borneo produces a few Diamonds, but of the mines there we know 

 nothing beyond that the district is said to be fearfully unhealthy, 

 and that Europeans cannot live there. According to tradition, 

 Diamonds are said to have been found in Arabia, but this I 

 beUeve to be entirely a myth. Mineralogical treatises also state 

 that Diamonds have been found in the Ural Mountains ; how- 

 ever, I can find no satisfactory records of such finds, and it is 

 certain none come from there now, and the asserted discoveries in 

 California, Georgia, and Mexico are without foundation, and, like 

 the reported finds of Diamonds in Arizona, have, no doubt, 

 resulted from " salting " operations by speculators who wished to 

 sell a Diamond-mine. 



Australia has produced Diamonds of small size, washed from 

 the banks of rivers, but only in such small quantities that they 

 have not paid for the seeking, although it would seem probable, 

 judging from our experience at the Cape, that districts rich in 

 Diamonds may be discovered in New South Wales. 



The Brazilian mines were first discovered in 1727, in Sierro de 

 Frio, and produced immense quantities of Diamonds, so as to 

 cause great consternation amongst the possessors of old Diamonds, 

 and a considerable fall in values. Later on, other diamondiferous 

 districts were found, and in 1S43 the rich fields of Bahia were 

 discovered. At this time, the total annual finds amounted to the 

 astonishing quantity of 600,000 carats, worth over a million ster- 

 ling.^ This production, however, was not maintained for long, and 

 by 185 1 had fallen to one-fourth, and was diminishing year by 

 year. There are three distinct diamond-producing districts in 

 Brazil, widely separated from each other, and evidently each 

 deriving its Diamonds from a different source. The first is the 

 district of Diamantina, in the Minas Geraes ; the second some 

 seven days' journey from it, in the district known as Bagagem, and 

 which produces the finest quality ; and, third, the district of Bahia, 

 near the sea-coast. In the two first of these districts, the Dia- 

 monds are found by washing an alluvial deposit, a peculiarly 

 reddish gravel, known locally under the name of " Cascalhao," 

 which occurs underneath the present bed of the river, and is 



* The South African fields have proved much richer, the total finds of the 

 four Mines — Kimberley, Bultfontein, Dutoitspan, and De Beer's — being 

 estimated for the year 1883 at 2,600,000 carats, of the value of three millions 

 sterling. 



