362 EMIGRANT DIAMONDS IN AMERICA. 



As those stones were found in the deposits of "drift" which were 

 left by the ice of the Glacial period, it was clear that they had been 

 brought to their resting places b\ T the ice itself. The map reveals the 

 additional fact, and one of the greatest significance, that all these dia- 

 monds were found in the so-called " kettle moraine." This moraine or 

 ridge was the dumping ground of the ice for its burden of bowlders, 

 gravel, and clay at the time of its later invasion, and hence indicates 

 the boundaries of the territory over which the ice mass was then 

 extended. In view of the fact that two of the three stones found had 

 remained in the hands of the farming population, without coming to 

 the knowledge of the world, for periods of eleven and seven years, 

 respectively, it seems most probable that others !"ve been found, 

 though not identified as diamonds, and for this reason are doubtless 

 still to be found in many eases in association with other local "curios" 

 on the clock shelves of country farmhouses in the vicinity of the 

 "kettle moraine." The writer felt warranted in predicting, in 1894, 

 that other diamonds would occasionally be brought to light in the 

 "kettle moraine," though the great extent of this moraine left little 

 room for hope that more than one or two would be found at any one 

 point of it. 



In the time that has since elapsed, diamonds have been found at the 

 rate of about one a year, though not, so far as I am aware, in any case 

 as the result of search. In Wisconsin have been found the Saukville 

 diamond (PI. Ill), a beautiful white stone of 6 carats weight, and also 

 the Burlington stone, having a weight of a little over 2 carats (PI. III). 

 The former had been for more than sixteen years in the possession of 

 the finder before he learned of its value. In Michigan has been found 

 the Dowagiac stone of about 11 carats weight, and only very recenth 7 a 

 diamond weighing G carats and of exceptionally fine " water" has come 

 to light at Milford, near Cincinnati (PI. III). This augmentation of 

 the number of localities and the nearness of all to the "kettle moraines" 

 leaves little room for doubt that the diamonds were conveyed by the 

 ice at the time of its later invasion of the country. 



Having, then, arrived at a satisfactoiy conclusion regarding not only 

 the agent which conveyed the stones, but also respecting the period 

 during which they were transported, it is pertinent to inquire by what 

 paths they were brought to their adopted homes, and whether, if these 

 may be definitely charted, it may not be possible to follow them in a 

 direction the reverse of that taken by the diamonds themselves until 

 we arrive at the point from which each diamond started upon its jour- 

 ney. If we succeed in this, we shall learn whether they have a common 

 home, or whether they were formed in regions more or less widely 

 separated. From the great rarity of diamonds in nature it would seem 

 that the hypothesis of a common home is the more probable, and this 

 view finds confirmation in the fact that certain marks of "consanguin- 

 ity" have been observed upon the stones already found. 



