59 



East Indies. The most celebrated of all the Indian diamond 

 mines were those in the neighbourhood of Golconda, near 

 Hyderabad, which have yielded the finest diamonds in exis- 

 tence ; among others, the Kohinoor. In the 1 7th century as 

 many as 60,000 people were employed in the mines of Golconda, 

 and in the 1 3th century upwards of 4001b. of the precious stones 

 which had been taken from the mines were stored in Sultan 

 Mahmoud's treasury. The Golconda mines were ceded many 

 years ago to the English, but they are believed to be exhausted, 

 and have long since been abandoned. 



In the 1 8th century diamonds were discovered in Brazil by 

 gold-seekers, who were in such ignorance of their nature that 

 they employed them as counters in card-playing ; but at last a 

 native, Bernard Lobo, who had visited the East Indies, recog- 

 nised the true nature of the counters, and immediately the news 

 spread like wildfire, occasioning a panic in the diamond market. 

 Upon the inhabitants of the diamond district the discovery 

 acted like a curse, and to the bitter sorrows of persecution were 

 added the horrors of earthquake and drought. The existence 

 of diamonds in South Africa had been several times asserted 

 before the English conquest of Cape Colony. The re-discovery, 

 however, took place in 1867. At that date a shrewd trader, 

 passing through a country forty miles to the west of Hopetown, 

 saw the children of a Boer called Jacobs playing with pebbles 

 picked up along the banks of the Orange River. Struck with 

 the appearance of one of the playthings, the trader told Jacobs 

 that it reminded him of the white shining stones mentioned in 

 the Bible. As he uttered the words, an ostrich-hunter named 

 O'Reilly chanced to pass the door-way of the house, and over- 

 hearing the remark, he entered, and was also impressed. Vague 

 ideas of a diamond, which none of the three had ever seen, passed 

 through their minds. They tried the pebble upon glass, scratch- 

 ing the sash all over. A bargain was struck ; O'Reilly took 

 the stone for sale, each of the parties present to have a share. 

 At Capetown, on the verdict of Dr. Atherstone, Sir P. E. Wode- 

 house gave ^500 for it. The news spread fast. 



At the moment of this discovery there was something exceed- 



