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PICTORIAL MISCELLANY. 



I have determined to give you a short history of the Various kinds 

 of mines, arid shall commence this month with the most valuable of 

 all known substances, diamonds. Perhaps I ought not to say valu- 

 able, for in one sense they are not so. People never eat them, nor 

 are they, in any case, necessary for the health or happiness of 

 mankind. Diamonds are very rarely found, and herein consists 

 their great value. They are very brilliant stones ; and as ornaments, 

 wherewith to deck and adorn a person's dress, they are certainly 

 unsurpassed. 





It is somewhat remarkable that diamonds are found only in the 

 torrid zone, and all mines are generally about the same distance 

 from the equator. There are very brilliant stones in England and 

 various other countries, but no real diamonds. The diamond mines 

 of Golconda have been long held in the highest esteem. The prin- 

 cipal mine is at Raolconda, five days' journey from the city of 

 Golconda ; this was discovered in the seventeenth century. The 

 country is woody and rocky, approaching the range of hills 'running 

 across the province. In the crevices of the rocks is sometimes found 

 a sort of vein of sand, not more than one inch wide, and frequently 

 not above half that width ; so that the miners are obliged to employ 

 hooked irons, with which they rake out the earth and sand; and it 

 is among this loose stuff that the diamonds are found. They wash 

 it, with great care, securing all the stones it contains. When the 



