The Occurrence and Distribution of Diamonds in India. 567 
Mr. Briggs, the author of the above, who is quoted by Captain 
Burton,* adds :— 
“ And there is no tradition of their ever having produced very valuable 
stones.” 
Captain Burton remarks upon the statement that it is full of 
error, as the Pitt or Regent diamond came from Purtial, but 
Captain Newbold says it came from Borneo, being bought by Mr. 
Pitt, a merchant, of Bencoolen, in Sumatra. 
Regarding the origin of these diamonds from the various 
localities bordering the Kistua river, near Kondapilly, Captain 
Newbold expresses his belief that the materials of the beds were 
bronght down from the hills of sandstone and limestone through 
which the river has recently passed, and Voysey remarks the 
persistency of the same kind of conglomerate at all the mines. 
CENTRAL PROVINCE OR MAHANADI—GODAVERI TRACT. 
SAMBALPUR. 
In Rennell’s “ Memoir on a Map of Hindustan,’t the following 
passage occurs :— 
“Qn the west of Boad and near the Mahanuddy river, Mr. Thomas 
passed a town of the name of Beiragurh, which I take to be the place 
noted in the Ayin Acbaree as having a diamond mine in its neigh- 
bourhood. There is, indeed,a mine of more modern date in the vicinity 
of Sambalpur ; but this whole quarter must from very early times have 
been famous for producing diamonds. Ptolemy’s Adamas river answers 
perfectly to the Mahanuddy, and the district of Sabare, on its banks, is 
said to abound in diamonds. Although this geographer’s map of India 
is so exceedingly faulty in the general form of the whole tract, yet 
several parts of it are descriptive.” 
With reference to Beiragurh, I can find no place of that name 
in Sambalpur, and the late Mr. Blochmann, to whom I referred the 
matter, informed me that the Beiragurh mentioned in the Ain 
Akbari is there stated to be in the Subah Berar, and was, there- 
fore, probably not identical with the place mentioned by Mr. 
Thomas, according to Col. Rennell.{ In Ptolemy’s map$ the 
* Quarterly Journal of Science, N.S., Vol. vi., 1876. 
+ London, 1792, p. 240. 
+ One of the diamond localities in Panna is called Baraghari. 
§ Asie x tab. ‘‘Geographie libri Octo, Gr. et Lat. Opera P. Bertii Lugduni.” Bat. 
1618. Fol. 
Scren. Proc. R.D.S. Vou. u., Pr. vit. 2Q 
