540 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1S12. 



other respects they are more hardly 

 dealt with than those of any other 

 establishment which I visited : not- 

 withstanding this, the owners are 

 all anxious to get their negroes 

 into the service, doubtless from si- 

 nister motives, of v/hich more will 

 be said hereafter. 



The officers are liberally paid, 

 and live in a style of considerable 

 elegance, which a stranger would 

 not be led to expect in so remote 

 a place. Our tables were daily co- 

 vered with a profusion of excellent 

 viands, served up on fine Wedge- 

 wood ware, and the state of their 

 household generally corresponded 

 with this essential part of it. They 

 were ever ready to assist me in my 

 examination of the works, and 

 freely gave me all the necessary in- 

 formation respecting them. 



Having detailed the process of 

 washing for diamonds, I proceed 

 to a general description of the si- 

 tuations in which they are found. 

 The flat pieces of ground on each 

 side the river are equally rich 

 throughout their extent, and hence 

 the officers are enabled to calculate 

 the value'of an unworked place by 

 comparison with the amount found 

 on working in the part adjoining. 

 These known places are left in re- 

 serve, and trial is made of more 

 uncertain grounds. The following 

 observation I often heard from the 

 intendant: "That piece of ground" 

 (speaking of an unworked flat by 

 the side of the river) " will yield 

 me ten thousand carats of dia- 

 monds, whenever we shall be re- 

 quired to get tliem in the regular 

 course of working, or when, on 

 any particular occasion, an order 

 from government arrives, demand- 

 ing an extraordinary and immedi- 

 ate supply," 



The substances accompanying^ 

 diamonds, and considered good in- 

 dications of them, are bright bean- 

 like iron ore, a slaty flint-like sub- 

 stance, approaching Lydian stone, 

 of fine texture, black oxide of iron, 

 in great quantities, rounded bits of J 

 blue quartz, yellow crystal, and i 

 other materials entirely difterent 

 from any thing known to be pro- 

 duced in the adjacent mountains. 

 Diamonds are by no means pecu- 

 liar to the beds of rivers or deep 

 ravines ; they have been found in 

 cavities and water-courses on the 

 summits of the most lofty moun- 

 tains. 



I had some conversation with 

 the officers respecting the matrix 

 of the diamond, not a vestige of 

 which could I trace. They in- 

 formed me that they often found 

 diamonds cemented in pudding- 

 stone, accompanied with grains of 

 gold, but that they always broke 

 them out, as they could not enter 

 them in the treasury, or weigh 

 them with matter adhering to 

 them. I obtained a mass of pud- 

 ding-stone, apparently of very re- 

 cent formation, cemented by ferru- 

 ginous matter enveloping many 

 grains of gold; and likewise a few 

 |)Ounds weight of the cascalbao in 

 its unwashed state. 



This river, and other streams in 

 its vicinity, have been in washing 

 many years, and have produced 

 great quantitiesof diamonds, which 

 have ever been reputed oi the finest 

 quality. They vary in size : some 

 are so small that four or five are 

 required to weigh one grain, con- 

 sequently sixteen or twenty to the 

 carat : there are seldom found 

 more than two or three stones of 

 from seventeen to twenty carats in 

 the course oi a. year, and not once 



in 



