monds are known which give out hght 

 from the cubic faces but not from the 

 octahedral, while others are reported as 

 giving out light of different colors from 

 different faces. 



The name Diamond comes from the 

 Greek adamas, which means unconquer- 

 able. This term was doubtless applied 

 because of the great resistant power 

 assigned to it by the ancients. Besides 

 the well known tradition that j.t could not. 

 be broken by hammer and anvil, they be- 

 lieved that it could be subdued or broken 

 down only when dipped in warm goat's 

 blood. Our w^ords adamant and adam- 

 antine are also derived from adamas, the 

 latter term still being used to describe the 

 luster of the Diamond. The change of 

 adamas into the word Diamond is 

 thought by some to have come from pre- 

 fixing to it the Italian diafano, transpar- 

 ent, in allusion to its possessing this prop- 

 erty. 



According to classical mythology the 

 Diamond was first formed by Jupiter, 

 who turned into stone a man known as 

 Diamond of Crete, for refusing to for- 

 get him after he had ordered all men to 

 do so. Many medicinal virtues were 

 ascribed to the Diamond, it being regard- 

 ed as an antidote for poisons and a pre- 

 ventive of mania. 



The world's supply of Diamonds has 

 come almost wholly from three countries 

 — India, Brazil and South Africa. Up 

 to the beginning of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury India was the only source of Dia- 

 monds known. The Diamond fields 

 of India occur chiefly in the eastern 

 and southern portions of the peninsula. 

 The famed region of Golconda is in the 

 southern part. This is the territory 

 whence have come the most celebrated 

 Indian stones^ such as the Kohinoor and 

 the Hope Blue. The French traveler Ta- 

 vernier reported when he was there in 

 1665, that sixty thousand men were then 

 employed in these mines. Now the 

 mines have all been given up and the re- 

 gion is abandoned. 



The present yield of Indian Diamonds 

 comes almost wholly from mines in a dis- 

 t trict south of Allahabad and Benares. The 

 Diamonds occur here, as universally in 

 India, in a conglomerate or sandstone 

 made up of the remains of older rocks. 

 The mines are worked almost wholly 



by natives of the lower caste, attempts of 

 Europeans to conduct the mining not 

 having met with success. The natives 

 separate the Diamonds by washing, or 

 where the rock is too hard for such meth- 

 ods, break it up by heating and throwing 

 cold water upon it. The production of 

 Diamonds from all of India is at the 

 present time very small, not reaching a 

 million dollars a year in value. It is like- 

 ly in time to disappear altogether since 

 most of the old mines have been aban- 

 doned and even their location forgotten 

 and the returns from the present mines 

 are not very profitable. 



The Brazilian Diamond fields were the 

 first important ones to become known 

 after those of India. Diamonds were first 

 found here in 1729 in river sands which 

 were being worked for gold by adven- 

 turers who penetrated into the region 

 from the coast. The gold miners paid no 

 attention to the bright crystals sometimes 

 seen in the bottoms of their pans, but a 

 monk who had seen Diamonds mined 

 in India recognized them as gems indeed. 

 While for many years the Diamonds 

 obtained came wholly from the river sands,, 

 later, upland deposits were discovered 

 which now afford a part of the supply. 

 Diamonds have been found in the follow- 

 ing provinces of Brazil: Bahia, Goyaz, 

 Matto Grosso, Minas Geraes and Parana. 

 In all except Bahia and Minas Geraes the 

 mining is desultory and consists simply 

 in washing river sands by means of 

 wooden bowls. Enough Diamonds are 

 thus obtained to afford a precarious liv- 

 ing to the garimperos, as they are called, 

 who follow this occupation. The chief 

 Diamond bearing region of Brazil at the 

 present time is in the province of Minas 

 Geraes, centered about the city of Diam- 

 antina. The black variety of Diamond 

 known as carbonado comes chiefly from 

 the province of Bahia and is in large de- 

 mand for industrial purposes. The Bra- 

 zilian Diamonds are as a rule small, but 

 exceed all others in luster. The largest 

 Brazilian Diamond known is that named 

 Star of the South, which weighed in the 

 rough 254.5 carats and was valued at one 

 hundred and seventy-five thousand dol- 

 lars. 



As is generally known the chief source 

 of Diamonds at the present time is South 

 Africa. As in Brazil, Diamonds w^ere 



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