440 



DEWSBURY D1NGWALL. 



enveloped in wood, that the depth is not perceived ; 

 niul many an incurious traveller has passed the 

 Devil's bridge without distinguishing its circum- 

 stances from an ordinary road. The cleft over 

 which these two bridges extend has evidently been 

 enlarged, and was perhaps originally produced by 

 the incessant attack of the impetuous river My- 

 naeh on the solid wall of rock. In order to view 

 the scenery of this romantic spot, the visiter 

 should first crosi the bridge, and then descend by 

 the right of it to the bottom of the aperture, 

 through which the Mynach drives its furious pas- 

 sage, having descended from the mountains about 

 liw miles to the north-east. The effect of the 

 double arch is picturesque; and the narrowness of 

 the cleft, darkened by its artificial roof, increases 

 the solemn gloom of the abyss. On regaining the 

 road the second descent must be made by passing 

 through a small wood, at the distance of a few 

 yards from the bridge, to view the four successive 

 falls from the point of a rock in front.* 



DEWSBURY; a market-town in the west riding 

 of Yorkshire, thirty-four miles S. W. from York. 

 It is a place of great antiquity, and was the resid- 

 ence of the Saxons during the heptarchy. It has 

 a very fine appearance from the Wakefield road, 

 where it suddenly breaks upon the sight. The 

 principal manufactures carried on here, are in wool- 

 len cloths, blankets, and carpets. This town, from 

 its situation, possesses many commercial advantages, 

 being seated on the Calder, which with the canals 

 affords communication with Liverpool, Manchester, 

 &c. Population of the parish of Dewsbury in 

 1841, including the townships of Dewsbury, Soot- 

 hill, Clifton-cum-Heartshead, and Ossett, 25,806. 



DIAMOND, (a.) In former times, all the dia- 

 monds that were known were brought from differ- 

 ent parts of India, particularly from the famous 

 mines of Golconda, near Hyderabad, the present 

 capital of the Deccan, in Hindostan ; the islands of 

 Molucca and Borneo have also produced many 

 valuable stones : they are always found in an allu- 

 vial soil, generally gravel, resting on granite, and 

 not imbedded in any other substance, but appear- 

 ing like small pebbles with the surface flattened 

 in many parts. The diamond mines of Golconda 

 are now so far exhausted, as to be considered not 

 worth the expense of working. The diamonds 

 which are now brought to Europe are chiefly from 

 the Brazils. When Brazilian diamonds were first 

 imported, the circumstance excited the jealousy of 

 the dealers in East Indian gems, and a prejudice 

 was unjustly raised against the produce of these 

 newly-discovered mines ; and although subsequent 

 trials have proved the diamonds of Brazil to be 

 fully equal to those of the East, so difficult is it to 

 remove a prejudice when once it is raised, that to 

 the present day the diamonds of Brazil are con- 

 sidered by some people to be of an inferior kind. 

 The feeling was so strong that in order to obtain a 

 fair price for their stones, the merchants of Brazil 

 were in the habit of sending their cargo in the first 

 instance to Goa, that it might be re-imported from 

 that place into Europe, as the production of the 

 eastern world. Formerly, nearly the whole of the 

 trade in diamonds was monopolized by the Dutch, 

 and at present the cutting and polishing of these 

 gems is in general performed in Holland, on ac- 



* TherV is a Deril's bridge in Switzerland, of which notice 

 is taken in the hody of the work There are other Devil's 

 bridges among thz Alps, the Apennines, and the Pvrenean 

 noun tains. 



count of the lower price of labour ; but the Eii. 

 lish workman is nevertheless considered much 

 superior. 



The art of cutting, splitting, sawing, or polishing 

 diamonds requires great skill, practice, and pa- 

 tience. " It is seldom," says Mr Mawe, " that the 

 same workman is a proficient in all these branches, 

 but he generally confines himself to one. In cut- 

 ting and polishing a diamond, the workman has two 

 objects in view ; first, to remove any flaws or im- 

 perfections that may exist in the stone, and secondly, 

 to divide its surface into a number of regularly- 

 shaped polygons. The removal of flaws seems to 

 be the most material object, since the smallest 

 speck in some particular parts of the stone is in- 

 finitely multiplied by reflection from the numerous 

 polished surfaces of the gem. When the shape of 

 the rough stone is particularly unfavourable, the 

 workman has to resort to the hazardous operation 

 of splitting. The rule by which the proper place 

 is discovered at which to apply the requisite force 

 is made a great mystery of: but, perhaps, like many 

 other mechanical arts, it depends as much on the 

 dexterity acquired by constant practice, as on 

 scientific knowledge ; and in that case the work- 

 man himself, although a perfect adept in his busi- 

 ness, would find himself unable to impart the 

 knowledge he was in possession of. When the 

 direction in which it is to be split is decided on, it 

 is marked by a line cut with a sharp : f the stone 

 is afterwards fixed by strong cement in the pro- 

 per position in a stick, and then by the application 

 of a splitting-knife, the section is effected by the ap- 

 plication of a smart blow." 



Sometimes, when the section must cross the 

 crystallized structure of the gem, recourse must be 

 had to sawing. This is performed as follows : The 

 diamond is cemented to a small block of wood 

 which is fixed firmly to a table, and a line is made 

 with a sharp where the division is intended to take 

 place, which is afterwards filled with diamond- 

 powder and olive-oil : the sawing is then com- 

 menced, and if the stone is large, the labour of 

 eight or ten months is sometimes required to com- 

 plete the operation. The saw is made of fine 

 brass or iron-wire, attached to the two ends of a 

 piece of cane or whalebone, the teeth being formed 

 by the particles of diamond-powder, which become 

 imbedded in the wire as soon as it is applied to the 

 line. The cutting the facets on the surface of 

 the rough stone is a work of labour and skill ; the 

 polishing is performed in a mill, which is an ex- 

 tremely simple machine. Diamonds are cut (gene-r- 

 ally on account of the shape of the rough stone) in 

 various ways, and assume different names in conse- 

 quence ; as a brilliant, a rose, a table, and a lasque 

 diamond : of these the brilliant is the most splen- 

 did, from the brilliancy and number of its reflec- 

 tions and refractions. See Mr Maw's Treatise on 

 Diamonds and Precious Stones. 



DINGWALL ; a borough-town in Ross-shire, 

 Scotland, situated near the western extremity of 

 the Cromarty Firth, distant from Edinburgh 178 

 miles, from Inverness, twenty. It possesses a 

 small harbour, near which formerly stood the castle 

 of the family of Ross, a fragment of which build- 

 ing is all that now remains. The surrounding 

 country is beautiful and highly cultivated. Popu- 

 lation of town and parish in 1841, 2100. 



t When a small diamond is broken into four parts, the edge 

 'I I'arh quarter is railed a sharp. 



