18S1.] V. Ball — Diamond Mines in India. 31 



II. — On the Identification of certain Diamond Mines in India which ivere 

 hnown to and worked by the Ancients, especially those which were 

 visited by Tavernier. With a note on the history of the Koh-i-nur. — 

 By V. Ball, Esq., M. A., F. G. S., Geological Survey of India. 



[Two ivoodcuts.) 

 [Received 26th January : — Read 2nd February, 1881.] 



Having recently published a general account of Indian diamond 

 deposits* in which I unfortunately allowed myself, in more than one 

 instance to be misled by untrustworthy authorities and having still more 

 recently had an opportunity of consulting original works not available to 

 me when I wrote, I am anxious, on this the first opportunity to correct, 

 as far as possible, the errors to which I have given currency and to place on 

 record some of the more important conclusions at which I have arrived. 



Undoubtedly the best general account of Indian diamond deposits 

 published up to within the past few years is that by Karl Bitter in his 

 Erdkunde Aslen (Vol. VI, 1836). This most careful and assiduous compiler 

 has been quoted and misquoted, generally without acknowledgment, by a host 

 of subsequent compilers, none of whom have supplemented his account by re- 

 ference to the modern researches published by the Geological Survey of India. 

 I am compelled to add that one of the latest writers on Indian Diamonds,f 

 has by not having had recourse to this last source of information, misled 

 his readers as to the positive amount of knowledge possessed at present 

 regarding the mode of occurrence of Indian Diamonds. He has rehabili- 

 tated several long exploded theories as to their age. In his identification 

 of the localities visited by Tavernier he has been rather wide of the mark 

 while other parts of his paper especially his table of diamond weights are 

 internally inconsistent with one another. 



Tavernier's visits to India took place in the middle of the 17th 

 century. He describes the mines at three localities, namely, Raolconda in 

 the Carnatic, Gani or Coulour in the kingdom of Golconda and Soumel- 

 pour. 



The identification of these three localities, has, so far as I can 

 ascertain never been successfully made out. It is the object of this paper 

 to describe the result of my investigations and also to draw attention to 

 the fact that the Diamond mines mentioned in the Ain-i-Akbari as being 

 situated at BeiragarhJ are known to have been at a spot where traces of 

 the mines are still to be seen. 



* Scientific Proceedings of the Royal Dublin Society, 1880. 

 f Quarterly Journal of Science, "N". S. Vol. VI, 1876. 

 \ Vide Gladwin's Translation, Vol. II, p. 58. 



