552 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 
Tavernier did not visit Borneo, he tells us, in consequence of 
having been informed that the queen of that island would not 
permit of the removal of any gems out of her dominions. But 
the courageous old traveller seems to have been ready to go any- 
where in the pursuit of his trade, undeterred by risks and dangers. 
He seems to have fared well in India, and often alludes to the 
courtesy and even the lovingkindness of the natives. 
T had intended to add to this paper an account of all the famous 
diamonds which have been found in Jndia;* but at the very 
outset of my investigations, I have met with so many contradictory 
and conflicting statements, that I find it will require more time 
than is available to me at present to hunt up authorities and 
attempt a reconciliation. 
Asan example I may state that according to some authorities 
the Pitt or Regent diamond is said to have come from Borneo, 
by others, from the mines at Purtial. Similarly the true history 
of the Koh-i-noor is enveloped in much obscurity. 
DISTRIBUTION OF DIAMONDS IN INDIA. 
There are in India three extensive tracts, widely separated 
from. one another, in which the diamond has been sought for from 
the earliest periods of recorded history. Besides these principal 
tracts, there are others where, although the fact of occurrence of 
diamonds has been recorded, our knowledge as to the circumstances 
connected therewith, is less perfect. But with regard to the three 
principal tracts, it may now be fairly claimed that our knowledge 
of the geology of India enables us to fix the limits with approxi- 
mate accuracy, within which the diamond-bearing strata occur, 
and outside of which it would be useless to look for them. 
Moreover we may venture perhaps to extend within those limits 
very considerably the areas in which it may reasonably be 
anticipated that the gem may be sought for successfully. 
The most southern of these tracts is one which has long borne a 
familiar name, which however must be characterized as being to a 
vertain extent a misnomer. It falls to the lot of those who live in 
these modern days of accurate research to be called upon to give 
* The works on Diamonds and Precious stones by \!M. Dieulafait and Harry Emanuel 
may be referred to for information on these points. 
