404 Second Report on the Geology of Hyderabad. [Ave. 
Of the six villages situated in this plain, Parteal is the only one in 
which diamonds are sought for. There even no fresh excavations have 
been made for many years, and the workmen have been since employed 
in. examining the old rubbish of the former excavations. They believe, 
in common with the searchers for diamonds in Hindustan, that the 
‘ gem is always forming in the mine, although very slowly. 
The village of Parteal presented a striking contrast to the Company’s 
village we had just quitted: it was in ruins, and the inhabitants ill 
clothed and half starved in their appearance. I afterwards visited the 
mines of Antior one mile from the Kistna, Barthemit Pandoa, and 
Malavili, but in none did I find labourers. 
There is still a considerable quantity of ground unopened in all these 
mines: indeed the sides of the excavations, which have produced the 
finest diamonds in the world, still remain untouched. The want of 
capital, and the objections of the zemindars to a farther encroach- 
ment on the cultivated lands, may be the causes operating chiefly to 
prevent farther researches, together with the fact of the cheapness and 
plenty of the Brazil market. 
The only stone common to all the mines I have visited, and which 
I understood to be indicative of the presence of the diamond, is the 
calcareous conglomerate*. 
Garnets. 
The garnet mine of Gharibpet is situated south of Paltnshah 
about eight miles. As I advanced up the ravine, in which I noticed 
veins of granite and trap and sand composed of mica, garnets, kyanite, 
quartz, and felspar, large scattered masses of rock were strewed on 
each side, which had fallen from the summit. On the top of. the 
immense mass of rock were several detached pieces, no doubt destined 
to fall as soon as decomposition shall have smoothed the way. 
Accustomed to see garnets in mica slate in Scotland and. elsewhere, 
I was disposed to call this rock by the same name, but.I did not per- 
ceive in any one instance any thing like stratification. 
I found it throughout composed of mica, garnets, ‘kyanite, quartz, 
and felspar ; in some specimens the kyanite was next in abundance to 
the mica. Veins of quartz containing kyanite were very frequent. The 
garnets, which were seen in great profusion on the surface of the rock, 
were generally of avery coarse:kind, as well as those which I found 
strewed on the surface of the ground. 
At the depth of eight or ten feet in the alluvium at the foot of the 
rock were found the precious garnets. The theory of crystallization 
* See a paper by Dr, Vorszy in the Asiatic Researches, vol. xv. p. 120. 
