DIAMOND: OCCURRENCE IN INDIA 149 



that waggon-loads of diamonds had been taken away. Here again the diamonds occur in 

 sands which are now no longer worked. 



Still further east, on the left (north) bank of the Kistna, but at some distance from the 

 river, are the Muleli or Malavilly mines, situated between the village of the same name and 

 that of Golapilly, to the north-east of Condapilly, and about six or seven hours' journey 

 west of Ellore. Here pits fifteen to twenty feet deep are excavated in a conglomeratic 

 sandstone or in the sui'face debris derived from its disintegration. These sandstones rest on 

 gneiss and belong to a somewhat later series of beds than does the Karnul series. The 

 diamantiferous stratum, which according to many observers is overlain by a bed of calcareous 

 travertine, consists mainly of pebbles of sandstone, quartz, jasper, chert, granite, &c., as well 

 as of large fragments of a limestone conglomerate, which show no traces of having been 

 water-worn. All the minerals which accompany diamond at Cuddapah are also present here, 

 with chalcedony and carnelian in addition. These mines have been worked at least as 

 recently as the year 1830, but the yield has since fallen off and they are now abandoned. 



In the district in which this group is situated, which lies partly in Haidarabad, the 

 " Hyderabad Company " of English capitalists has acquired working rights. The Company's 

 total output of diamonds in the year 1891 was 862| carats, valued at 16,530 rupees. The 

 annual output of the whole group of mines is at the present time little greater than this, 

 being perhaps about 1000 carats. 



To the north of the district just mentioned, diamonds are said to have been found at 

 Bhadrachalam on the Godavari river. Their occurrence here is, however, doubtful, if not 

 mythical, few if any stones having been found ; the whole district is little known, and 

 rendered extremely inaccessible by the thickness of the surrounding forests. Much 

 richer and more important, at least in former times, is the fourth group of diamond 

 mines now to be described. 



4. The Sambalpur Group on the Mahanadi River. 



This group is situated a good distance to the north-west of the previous group, and 

 lies between latitude 21° and 22° north, in the Central Provinces. The diamonds known to 

 the ancients may have been those of the Mahanadi river, the diamond river mentioned by 

 Ptolemy being supposed to be in this district, and being, in fact, identified by many authors 

 with the Mahanadi river itself. The occurrence of diamond is limited to the neighbourhood 

 of Sambalpur, no other part of the river having given any yield. The mining district 

 extends over a fertile plain, which at the town of Sambalpur stands 451 feet above sea level, 

 and forms the stretch of land between the Mahanadi and Brahmani rivers. The date of 

 the first discovery of stones here is unknown, but Sambalpur has been a familiar diamond 

 locality since very remote times. 



The diamonds are found for the most part in the neighbourhood of the confluences of 

 the Mahanadi with some of the tributaries on its left bank. These tributaries, which flow 

 into the river from the north, rise in the Barapahar hills ; one of these, which joins the 

 Mahanadi a little above Sambalpur, is the Ebe, and is sometimes considered to be the 

 diamond river of the ancients, but whereas the occurrence of diamonds here has not been 

 proved, there is no doubt as to their occurrence in the Mahanadi valley. In former times the 

 stones were collected in the river-beds after the rainy season. They were found in the 

 Mahanadi river only on the left bank, never on the right, and not higher up than where the 

 Manda tributary enters the main river at Chandapur ; according to some accounts, which 

 however are probably incorrect, the mouth of the Ebe is the furthest up-stream limit to 



