142 SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTION OF PRECIOUS STONES 



In Bundelkhand the (Hamond-bearing stratum belongs to the middle division of the 

 Upper Vindhyan formation, namely the Rewah group, and is ' situated at the base of this 

 group in the Panna beds. It is usually a red, ferruginous conglomerate, the pebbles of 

 which consist, as in southern India, of quartz, variously coloured jasper, quartz-schisfs, 

 sandstone, nodules of limonite, &c. The' diamonds appear to bear a close relation to certain 

 sandstone pebbles in this bed. 



It is often stated, although perhaps further confirmation of the fact is needed, that in 

 Bundelkhand diamond is sometimes found in fragments of a compact, greyish, siliceous 

 sandstone with a peculiar glassy appearance, embedded in the stone in the same way as are 

 the sand grains of which it is composed. These sandstone pebbles in the conglomerates of 

 the Rewah group have been most probably derived from beds of the Lower Vindhyan 

 formation, which, by their denudation, supplied material for the deposition of the later 

 beds of the Upper Vindhyan formation. Thus the diamonds now found in the Upper 

 Vindhyan formation originally belonged to the Lower Vindhyan, where, in southern India, 

 they are still found. With the denudation of these older rocks the diamonds were set free 

 and again deposited with the material of the younger beds, some remaining embedded in 

 fragments of the original rock, while others became isolated and are now found among the 

 pebbles of the conglomerate. 



The diamantiferous sandstones and conglomerates are now elevated, and crop out at the 

 surface of the ground, or are covered by younger strata. V\'here these strata are not so 

 protected, as when a valley cuts across them, they will be exposed to the action of denuding 

 agents, and will be reduced to soft incoherent sands in which the diamonds lie loosely, the 

 whole constituting a diamantiferous sand. 



The diamond-bearing strata, together with the sands derived from them by weathering, 

 are everywhere exposed to the action of streams and rivers which transport the material to 

 lower levels. The next resting-place of the diamond is therefore the sands and gravels of 

 the river bed or its alluvial deposits. The most recent of these alluvial deposits lies at the 

 present level of the river ; others are found at higher levels on the sides of the valley, 

 having been formed before the valley had been cut down to its present depth. These 

 diamond-bearing alluvial deposits have a close connection with the diamond-bearing beds 

 from which they have been derived. In any district where diamonds occur in the strata 

 they will also be found in the beds of the streams and rivers, although not always in 

 numbers sufficiently great to repay work on a large scale. 



The mining of diamonds is at the present day, just as in former times, almost entirely 

 in the hands of natives of the lower castes. Attempts on the jiart of Europeans to work the 

 diamond-bearing deposits on a large scale, and according to modern methods, have never 

 been attended with success. The work in many cases is tedious and difficult, and, 

 moreover, the methods used must be altered to suit the conditions in diiferenc localities, 

 which vary considerably. The same methods are for the most part now employed as were 

 in use in the oldest times of which records exist ; at any rate, they are identical with those 

 seen and described by Tavernier, the French traveller and dealer in precious stones, in 1665. 



The working of the surface layer of sands, that is the loose, weathered product of the 

 sandstone beds, and of the river alluvium, is easy. It consists essentially in removing the 

 larger masses of rock and in washing away the finer earthy material with water. From the 

 sandy residue thus obtained the diamonds are picked out, usually by the women and 

 children of the workers who dig out the gravels. 



The working of the sandstone beds is more arduous, and is only attempted where they 

 lie on the surface or at a very small depth beneath it. Where they are overlain by 



