THE PROSPECTOR'S HANDBOOK. 



less held up to the light, yet, here and there a good specimen 

 may be found. For all that, a knowledge of the general 

 appearance of such impure specimens is probably of as 

 much importance as that of the good ones ; for the pros- 

 pector who comes across them has an encouragement in 

 his search for valuable ones. 



For some reason or other, diamonds and gold are often 

 found in the same alluvial deposit, and so auriferous beds 

 should be examined for the precious stone. The specific 

 gravity of the diamond higher than that of quartz or most 

 pebbles and that of gold are so very different, that it 

 does not follow that, for instance in a stream bed, these 

 two minerals are always found close together. 



On page 89 it has been mentioned that diamonds are 

 sometimes found in flexible sandstone ; but if they are not 

 discovered in a particular deposit of this sandstone, the 

 presence of this formation in a district is a very good one 

 for the prospector to know of, as the diamonds may still be 

 found not very far off. 



