EASTERN HINDOOSTAN. 113 



"" of it, till it come to be a kind of batter, then they open the 

 '< holes in the wall to let out the water, and throw on morc 

 " water ftill till all the mud be walhed away, and nothing left 

 ^' but the fand : after that they dry it in the fun, and then they 

 ^' winnow the fand in little winnows as we winnow our corn. 

 *' The fmall duft flies away, the great remains, which they pour 

 ^' out again upon the ground. 



" The earth being thus winnowed, they fpread it with a 

 *' kind of rake as thin as they poflibly can, then with a wooden 

 *' inftrument, like a pavior's rammer, about half a foot wide at 

 ** the bottom, they jx>und the earth from one end to the other 

 *' two or three times over; after that they winnow it again, 

 " then, and fpreading it at one end of the van, for fear of loling 

 ** any of the earth, they look for the diamonds." 



The king was proprietor of the mines; to him the mer- 

 chants pay a tribute for liberty of digging, and alfo two per 

 cent, for all they buy. The Banians are the great traders of 

 the country. 



Diamonds are alfo found in the gravel or fand of rivers 

 wallied out of their beds, and carried down with the ftream. 

 The river Gouel, near SownelpouKy is the m.oft noted and the moft 

 antient. 



Marco Poio, in p. 144 of his travels, mentions a wondrous 

 way of getting thefe ftones : He fays that they are found in cer- 

 tain vallies of India, environed with rude mountains, almoft in- 

 acceffible by reafon of rocks and precipices ; thefe again terrific 

 from the number of great ferpents, and of white eagles, which 

 make thefe reptiles their prey : diamonds alfo cover their bottom. 



Vol. IL Q I» 



