The Occurrence and Distribution of Diamonds in India. 559 
“They were smooth, tolerably bright and shining, and did not look as 
if they had been worn ; in fact, they seemed to me to have been crystals 
wm situinthe rock. In colour they were pale blue, or green and yellow. 
Captain Newbold, in discussing this subject, without much 
difficulty disposes of Captain Franklin’s suggestion that the beds 
containing the diamonds of Panna may have been roasted by the 
ignition of coal seams, which he believed existed below. He then 
remarks :—“ It is fully proved, I think, from the experiments of 
Sir David Brewster, that the diamond has once been in a soft 
state, like amber, opal, or the tabashir. Minute cavities, sur- 
rounded by a compressed structure, analogous to those in the 
Laske diamond, are seen in several specimens of the Indian gem 
which have been brought me by the diamond merchants.” He 
appears to be disposed to favour the native idea that the diamond 
is reproduced in the soil. “The old miners stated to me that a 
term of fifteen or twenty years was requisite for the reproduction 
of the gem.” They were in this belief led to rewash old tailings, 
and accounted for the fact of the diamonds found in them being so 
small by saying that they had not had time to grow larger. An 
unbeliever in this hypothesis would be inclined to suggest that the 
smallness of the diamonds accounted for their having eluded the 
searchers in the first washings. 
The same idea was favoured by Dr. Heyne, and it may be added 
that various authorities have expressed a belief that alluvial gold 
is formed by accretion of particles im situ, some even having 
asserted that they have positive proof of the fact. But I do not 
know that this proof has ever found expression in a form calculated 
to carry with it conviction to any impartial expert. In point of 
fact it is one which cannot really be seriously entertained for a 
moment, and I merely mention it because it occurs in the early 
accounts. 
KADAPAH, OR CUDDAPAH, DISTRICT. 
Within the limits of the Kadapah district the principal 
localities where diamonds have been worked for are, according to 
Mr. King, Cunnapurtee and Woblapully, or Obalumpally, near 
Chennur, on opposite banks of the Pennair and Lamdur rivers, 
and Pinchetgapadu, west of Chennur. 
These mines are generally by authors referred to under the 
title. 
