1881.] visited and described ly Tavernier. 41 



Simah I take to be the same as Semul the name of the silk cotton 

 tree (Bombax malabaricum) which attains an enormous size in that 

 particular region, and Simah or Semul-pur might have very probably been 

 written Soumelpour by Tavernier. That the name of the river, Gouel, 

 is identical with Koel, under the circumstances, admits of no doubt what- 

 ever as the Koel runs northwards to join the Sone and so reaches the 

 Ganges ; but it is perhaps open to question whether the present Koel or its 

 tributary, the Aurunga, may have been intended. 



Tavernier states that the diamond searchers worked up to the sources 

 of the river in the hills 50 costes distant to the south. This though an 

 exaggeration as applied to the length of the Koel would be wholly in- 

 applicable to the Aurunga, but on the maps by Rennel of a century ago 

 the name Koel was applied to the Aurunga while the present Koel, above 

 the junction, bore the name Burwah or that of the region where it takes 

 its rise. The highlands separating Palamow from Lohardugga proper form 

 part of a water-shed between the rivers of the Ganges basin which flow 

 northwards, and those of the Brahmini and Mahanadi basins which flow 

 to the south. Among the former the Koel and the Aurunga are the principal 

 and among the latter the Sunk and another Koel both of which, flowing 

 southwards, combine to form the Brahmini. 



If there were really two sets of diamond mines, one in each basin, 

 it is probable that the sources of the diamonds were identical being situated 

 in these ranges of hills which form the water-shed, unfortunately we do not 

 know much of the geology although neighbouring areas have been pretty 

 closely worked, but it will be interesting to see whether future research will 

 prove the existence of an outlier of Vindhyan rocks — representatives of the 

 formation being rarely absent from the vicinity of diamond mines in India. 

 On Jeffery's map to which allusion has been made on a previous page, 

 Soumelpur is placed on a river (doubtless the Koel) south of Rhotas and 15" 

 north of a town called Jounpur. As no other towns save Soumelpur are 

 given in the same region, it is clear that Jefferys took his data from Taver- 

 nier. Rennell, however, in his map of this region marks diamond mines 

 south of the water -shed, i. e., on the Sunk river. 



There is still another point of interest to be mentioned with reference 

 to the identification of these mines. A large . picture, representing the 

 attack upon the fort of Palamow in 1660 by Daud Khan, which has been 

 described by the late Col. Dalton* contains a figure of the Zamindar i Kan 

 i almas, or lord of the diamond mines, in the back ground. He is considered 

 by Col. Dalton to be a Kol (Nagbunsi) Raja but why should he not be 

 regarded as being precisely what he is described. He was probably the very 



* J. A. S. B. Vol. XLIII. pt. I, 240. 

 6 



