GEM-STONES 



MAJOR 



Diamond 



GEM-STONES 



Exports. 



Aqua- 

 marine. 



D.E.P., 

 iii., 92-101. 

 Diamond. 



Produc- 

 tion. 



Three Groups. 



in 1903-4, and Es. 6,05,482 in 1906-7 ; of Bombay, Rs. 55,02,591 in 

 1903-4, and Rs. 84,49,271 in 1906-7. The balance on the totals of the 

 years named went to Burma. In the same years the EXPORTS (Indian 

 merchandise, including Jade) amounted to Rs. 9,25,257 and Rs. 18,81,608, 

 and the re-exports to Rs. 92,118 and Rs. 2,57,598. 



/. MAJOR GEMS. 



1. Beryl. Ball, Man. Econ. Geol. Ind., 1881, iii., 520-2 ; Holland, 

 I.e. 107-8. The sabzd, panooa, fastiki kerasi. 



Prof. Church writes me that beryl includes not only the rich green emerald, 

 but also the sea-green aquamarine as well as the white, and the bluish varieties 

 of a mineral species, which is a silicate of alumina and another earth, now generally 

 called beryllia. 



According to Holland, the palest varieties are common in the granite peg- 

 matites of India, but the crystals are too fissured for use as gem-stones. The 

 only places where attempts have been made to excavate pegmatite solely for 

 its aquamarines are at Padyur (Pattalai) near Kangayam, Coimbatore district, 

 and at different places in the Toda hills in Rajputana. [Cf. Linschoten, Voy. 

 E. Ind., 1598 (ed. Hakl. Soc.), 1885, ii., 138 ; Tavernier, Travels, 1676 (ed. 

 Ball), 1889, ii., 104 ; Milburn, Or. Comm., 1813, ii., 288 ; Watt, Min. Rev. Ind., 

 1894, 16 ; 1895, 39 ; 1896, 38 ; 1897, 36-7.] 



2. Diamond. Ball, Man. Econ. Geol. Ind., 1881, iii., 1-50 ; Ta- 

 vernier, Travels, 1676 (ed. Ball), ii., 431-64 ; Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind., 1889, 

 xxii., pt. 1, 1-2 ; pt. 4, 282-3 ; 1890, xxiii., pt. 2, 69-72 ; pt. 3, 153-6 ; 

 Holland, I.e. 108 ; also Imp. Gaz., iii., 160-1 : Watt, Mem. Res. Ind., 

 1894, 23-4 ; M in. Rev., 1894, 16-7 ; 1895, 39 ;' 1896, 38-9 ; 1897, 37 ; 

 hird, almas, hirdka, etc. 



Sources. India was the first and for long the only source of diamonds known 

 to European nations, and most of the great historic diamonds, the Koh-i-nur, 

 the Orloff, the Pitt, etc., were obtained from that country. Many of the early 

 Indian explorations by Europeans were primarily conducted with a view to 

 learn particulars of the supply of diamonds and other precious stones. Refer- 

 ences to Indian diamonds accordingly occur in the writings of most of the early 

 travellers. Marco Polo wrote of them in the 13th century. Varthema (Travels, 

 1510 (ed. Hakl. Soc.), 1863, 107) deals specially with the diamonds of Cambay. 

 The history of the Koh-i-nur, given by Tavernier (1676, I.e. 123-7), traces that 

 gem back to the time of the Emperor Baber (Memoirs (Leyden and Erskine, 

 transl.), 308). Jahangir (Memoirs (Price, transl.), 2-3, 51) gives an account 

 of the diamonds in the crown and throne used by him. Garcia de Orta, who 

 was in India in 1563 (Coll., xliii. ; also in Ball, Proc. Roy. Ir. Acad. (3rd. ser.), 

 1890, i., 657-61) mentions various Eastern diamond mines, such as that of 

 "Bisnager" (Vijayanagar) and the "Decam" (Deccan). Ball, in his translation 

 of Tavernier's Travels, gives full particulars of all the Indian sources of 

 diamonds, and the reader desirous of such details should, therefore, consult 

 that work (app., 431-61). Tavernier a diamond merchant was the first 

 European to critically examine the diamonds and the Court jewels of India. 

 His work is, accordingly, highly instructive. Fryer (New Ace. E. Ind. and Pers., 

 1675, 188, 212-4) and Thevenot (Travels in Levant, Indostan, etc., 1687, pt. iii., 

 98-100, 104) speak of the diamonds of Golconda, etc. (Golconda mines, consult 

 Ball, I.e. 453-6). Milburn (Or. Comm., 1813, ii., 79-81) furnishes particulars 

 for the guidance of the purchaser and enumerates the more important historic 

 diamonds that had been procured from India up to the beginning of the 19th 

 century. 



The following account by Holland gives concisely the chief facts of 

 the modern production : " Notwithstanding the reputation (stretching back 

 even as far as Ptolemy in the European, and further in the Hindu, classics) 

 which India has had as a diamond-producing country, the output of to-day is 

 very small and comparatively unimportant. The places which, according to 

 accounts, have been most productive in the past form three great groups, each 

 in association with the old unfossiliferous rocks of probably pre-Cambrian age, 

 now known as the Purana group, and distinguished locally as the Cuddapah and 

 Karnul systems in South India, and as the Vindhyan system in the northern 



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