490 



NATURE 



{March 24, 188] 



different districts of Mexico. The period of the year 

 when temperature is highest is also the period when the 

 air is driest, the mean relative humidity of Mexico for 

 April and May for 187S and 1879 being only 42. The 

 mean temperature of Tlacotalpam, the lowest station, 

 was 77^ '5, and of Zacatecas, the highest from which 

 mean temperatures are published, 6i°7. The difference of 

 the two is thus 1 5°-8, and as the difference of height is 8178 

 feet, the fall of temperature with the height is compara- 

 tively slow, being only one degree for each 518 feet. 



At Mexico during 1879, out of the 8760 observations 

 made of the wind, 4156 cases were reported as calm, 

 being nearly a half of the whole of the observations. By 

 far the most frequent wind is the north-west, which was 

 observed 1299 times ; next follow the north-east, 7S9 

 times, and north 636 times ; and the least frequent, south, 

 174 times, and south-west 278 times. As regards direc- 

 tion, the prevailing winds at Mexico were a point to the 

 north of east in February and March, from which they 

 gradually worked round to north-east in the beginning of 

 May, north in July, north-west in September, thence 

 again to north in the end of November, and back to east 

 in February. On these changes of the wind, considered 

 with reference to the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific, 

 largely depends the rainfall. The rainy season extends 

 from about the middle of May to the end of October ; 

 but at eastern stations showers are of not infrequent 

 occurrence from November to April, when prevailing 

 winds are northerly and easterly. The largest annual 

 rainfall was 89'i6 inches at Tlacotalpam, and the least 1 5'66 

 inches at San Luis Potosi. Thunder and lightning are 

 of common occurrence duriag the summer months, these 

 phenomena occurrmg on 66 per cent, of the days during 

 June, July, and August. During the five months from 

 December to April thunderstorms occur only on 7 per 

 cent, of the days. The position of Mexico, as already 

 stated, marks it out as a region peculiarly suited for the 

 investigation of some of the more interesting meteoro- 

 logical problems, particularly those which concern the 

 vertical distribution of the phenomena, in connection 

 with which an increase to the number of low-level 

 stations on the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific sea-boards 

 is very desirable. 



ON THE IDENTITY OF SOME ANCIENT 

 DIAMOND MINES IN INDIA, ESPECIALLY 

 THOSE MENTIONED BY T A VERNIER 



HAVING recentlyendeavoured to correlate the diamond 

 deposits of India, I have been surprised to find what 

 a mass of contradiction exists in both Indian and English 

 literature as to the identity of some of the most famous 

 mines which were worked little more than 200 years ago. 



In this brief account I propose to give results, not the 

 steps which have led me to them. Tavernier about the 

 middle of the seventeenth century visited and described 

 three diamond-mines, which were named respectively 

 Raolconda in the Carnatic, Gani, called Coulour by the 

 Persians, and Soumelpour on the Gonel River. 



Raolconda, Tavernier says, was five days distant from 

 Golconda and eight or nine from Bijapur, and most 

 writers with signal unsuccess have tried to fix it accord- 

 ingly. But elsewhere Tavernier gives nine stages, aggre- 

 gating probably 189 miles, on the road from Golconda to 

 Raolconda, so that in the first statement the distances 

 were probably transposed. With these new indications 

 we are led to an old town called Rawdukonda, lat. 15^41', 

 long. 76' 50'. I have not yet succeeded in obtaining any 

 independent testimony of the existence of diamond-mines 

 at this locality, but hope to be able to hear more about it 

 ere long. 



Gani, or Coulour, where Tavernier" says the Great 

 Mogul diamond was found in the sixteenth century, has 

 been variously located by authors, being supposed by 



many to be identical with Gani Purtial, on the Kistua 

 River ; but I am satisfied from the evidence afforded by 

 old maps that it is to be identified with KoUur, lat. 16° 42' 

 30", long. So"" 5', which is also on the Kistna, about twenty- 

 six miles further to the west. Now as to this word Gani, 

 which has been treated of as a proper name, its recur- 

 rence in connection with two different localities suggests 

 that it means mine. In fact since G and K are inter- 

 changeable letters in some Indian languages we should 

 probably read for Gani Kan-i, or the mine of Purtial or 

 of Kollur. 



If, as seems most probable, the Koh-i-nur is identical 

 with the Great Mogul diamond described by Tavernier, 

 and that the great age claimed for it by the Hindus is to 

 be regarded as mythical, then in fact for the first time 

 the identity of the source from whence this famous 

 diamond was obtained may be regarded as settled. Maps 

 of the eighteenth century indicate diamond mines at Gani 

 {i.e. Kan-i) Kollur, though local memory of their former 

 existence appears to have died out. 



Soumelpour, on the Gonel River of Tavernier, has 

 generally by recent authors been identified with Sambal- 

 pur, on the Mahanadi, in the Central Provinces. But 

 Tavernier's somewhat precise indication of its position has 

 led me to the conclusion that it was situated much further 

 to the north, namely, in the valley of the Koel River, a 

 tributary of the Sone. At about the distance stated by 

 Tavernier (which 1 calculate to be the equivalent of 

 eighty miles), to the south of the well-known fortress of 

 Rhotas, there are near the banks of the Koel River {i.e. 

 Tavernier's Gonel) the remains of an ancient town called 

 Semah, which word is identical with Semul (the native 

 name of a species of cotton-tree, Boinliax Malabaricuni), 

 Semulpour, or the town of the Semul, is therefore, it 

 seems prolaable, Tavernier's Soumelpour. The position 

 of Semah is lat. 23° 45', long. 84° 21'; it is included in 

 the sub-division of Palamow, in the Chutia Nagpur 

 Province. There is independent evidence of important 

 diamond mines having existed in a neighbouring part of 

 Chutia Nagpur in the sixteenth century, but there have 

 been none in operation there for many years. 



The last locality is Beeragurh, which is mentioned in 

 the Ain-i-Akbari, and also in several other native 

 writings. This is unquestionably identical with the 

 modern Wairagarh in the Chanda district of the 

 Central Provinces, where excavations locally known to 

 have been diamond mines are still to be seen. Wairagarh 

 is in lat. 20° 26', long. 80^ 10'. Many allusions which I 

 believe to refer to this locality might be quoted. One of 

 the fifteenth century by Nicolo Conti is of especia 

 interest. He says that at Albenigaras, fifteen days 

 journey north of Bijapur (Bijengalia), there is a mountain 

 which produces diamonds. The method of obtaining 

 them, which he describes on hearsay, is similar to that of 

 the celebrated Arabic myth which the travels of Sindbad 

 the sailor and of Marco Polo have made familiar to 

 everv one. 



The idea of the diamonds being collected by throwing 

 pieces of meat freshly cut from a slaughtered cow or 

 buffalo into a valley inhabited by venomous serpents, 

 which pieces, with diamonds sticking to them, were picked 

 up by birds of prey and recovered from them by the 

 diamond-seekers, probably took its rise from some sacri- 

 ficial custom in connection with the worship of the 

 sanguinary god less of riches, whom Heyne (" Tracts," 

 p. 95) alludes to under the name of Ammarwaru, as the 

 partners of the mine. The pieces of meat cut from the 

 victim were probably thrown about over the ground,_and 

 were naturally picked up and carried off by the birds. 

 This I believe to have been the foundation upon which 

 the fabulous superstructure was erected. 



Beeragurh, or Wairagarh, is, as the crow flies, about 

 324 miles from Bijapur, northwards, and the distance 

 might therefore have been accomplished in fifteen days. 



