APPENDIX. 51 



There are one or two others which raay be quoted by way of 

 relieving the dryness of these details. But I would mention 

 that much compact information is given by these authors, in 

 relation to their physical and geological researches in the interior 

 of Brazil, in Dr. Petermann's Mittheilungen (1859, Heft, xi.) 



The substance of the previous and follovnng quotation are taken 

 from a paper read before the Greological Society of Berlin. 

 Herodotus, we remember, tells (III., 102) a ridiculous story, 

 repeated by authors as late as the sixteenth century, of gold 

 being brought up by ants as big as dogs that guarded it when 

 obtained, and pursued the man that took it from them ; but 

 Messrs. Heusser and Claraz tell a far more probable story of 

 diamonds having been found among the little pebbles with which 

 some "worm-like insects" cover their tubular coverings — a fact 

 quite paralleled by the phryganea of Auvergne, which covered 

 their indusise with the shells of Bulimus atomus or a small Palu- 

 dina, forming strata which cover nearly 800 square miles, and are 

 from eight to ten feet thick. (Scrope, Central France, p. 11.) 



There is, however, another statement of even greater interest. 

 In the Cascalho are found fragments of quartz shaped like an 

 anvil. These were used as earrings by the ancient inhabitants of 

 Brazil. One of these ornaments was found in Cascalho that had 

 never been disturbed, in a dry watercourse, covered by 18 feet of 

 vegetable soil, on which many fine palm trees were growing. 

 Arrow-heads and bones were also found with it. This Cascalho 

 must, therefore, be comparatively recent, or the race tp whom 

 such implements belonged must have been very ancient. 



According to M. Hockeder the first diamond in Minas Greraes 

 was discovered in the year 1827. But I believe Brazil was known 

 to possess diamond just a century before. The effect was much 

 like that which takes place in Australia when a new lead is 

 discovered. The gold workings were all deserted by what is 

 called here " a rush," and the greatest excitement followed. Mr. 

 Hockeder's memoir, though now little known, made also a stir at 

 the time. \_Zreher des Vorkommen der dicmiantem.'] There are 

 other documents referred to in the Bull : Soc. Geol. de France. 

 (xiv. 232 ; I. 19 ; II. 659.) 



Eurther particulars relating to the diamond beds of Brazil may 

 be found in a paper by M. Pissis in the journal just cited (Tom. 

 xiii.) 



One passage seems to bear upon certain facts observable in 

 Australia. He says, " to these stratified rocks we must add 

 compact diorites, which show themselves abundantly distributed 

 on the surface, sometimes forming long lines of hills, sometimes 

 simple mamelons in which the matter appears to have been poured 

 out in the manner of basalts, producing long sheets which cover 

 the last beds of the limestones, whether silicious or schistose." 



