164 Captain Franklin on the Diamond Mines of 



ous earth, of a loose friable texture, in which the diamonds are 

 most frequently found." 



The apparent discrepancy in these accounts is not irrecon- 

 cilable — but Dr Voysey is most distinct in his description ; he 

 says that the rock under which the diamond matrix is found, 

 is compact sandstone, and that it differs in no respect from the 

 sandstone of the main range. He did not see the floor, but Dr 

 Heyne appears to have done so; and, if I understand him 

 right, the floor is sandstone also, for he says, (page 105,) that 

 the diamond bed is of the same nature with the rocks both 

 above and below it, but is distinguished from them by its su- 

 perior hardness, and that the floor is so hard that it strikes fire 

 with steel, a peculiarity which ecpaally applies to the Panna 

 mines. — Dr Voysey arrived at the following conclusions. 



1st, That the matrix of the diamond in the mines of Sou- 

 thern Tndia is the sandstone breccia of the " clay slate forma- 

 tion." 



2d, That those found in alluvial soil are produced from the 

 debris of the above rock, and have been brought thither by 

 some torrents or deluge, which alone could have transported 

 such large masses and pebbles from the parent rock, and that 

 no modern or traditional inundation has reached to such an 

 extent. 



3d, That the diamonds found at present in the bed of the 

 rivers are washed down by the annual rains. 



I cordially agree with Dr Voysey in the general result of 

 his conclusions, because I am satisfied that the same circum- 

 stances are applicable to the mines of Panna, but I neverthe- 

 less differ from him in two points ; 1st, I could not trace any 

 likelihood of diamonds being washed away by any natural 

 causes now in operation, such as the annual rains — they are, 

 in general, too deeply covered with soil, even in their most su- 

 perficial beds, to admit of this conclusion, and such only as 

 might have accidentally laid on the surface could be so trans- 

 ported. 2d, I cannot agree with his nomenclature with regard 

 to " clay slate formation," because he himself says, that in 

 using the term clay slate, he does not mean the Thonschieffer 

 of Werner, which is the only recognizable term for that rock, 

 according to the Wernerian system, but excepting these two 



