APPENDIX. 63 



It may be as well to state here that diamonds have occasionally 

 been found in our sister Colony of Yictoria, and have been 

 recorded by my friends, the E-ev. Dr. Bleasdale, Mr. Ulrich, and 

 Mr. Broughh Smith, the latter of whom, in his recently published 

 valuable official work on the " Grold Fields of Yictoria," mentions 

 sixty small diamonds of little value from Beechworth, taken out 

 of, or near to, the usual "wash dirt" of the diggers, varying in 

 weight from one-eighth to two carats and a half. 



In 1865 fifteen more diamonds were also procured from the 

 "Woolshed diggings. 



It is said also, that some small diamonds have been found at 

 the Echunga G-old Field, S.E. of Adelaide, in South Australia. 



At the present time, therefore, New South Wales is the 

 diamond Colony of Australia. 



I have been anxious to collect from every available source, in 

 the course of my own reading and observation, all that bears 

 upon our new colonial industry, that the matters thus brought 

 together may be an assistance to persons anxious to investigate 

 the curious circumstances connected with the most mysterious of 

 our minerals. . 



B. 



Extracts from " Explorations of the Highlands of the Brazil," hy Captain 

 Richard F. Burton, F.R.G.S., Sfc. Vol. II, p. 147-8. ' 



" The diamond merchant in the Brazil still cleaves to the old 

 system of money-weights introduced by the Portuguese in the 

 days of colonial ignorance. 



" The Brazil has, like ourselves, an especial diamond- weight ; 

 but practically, and amongst miners, one hears of nothing but 

 ' grain' and ' oitava' — ' quilate' or ' carat' is not popular. 



" The old French lapidaries said, for instance, ' eighty grains,' 

 not twenty carats. 



" The following is a complete list of weights : — 



" The Brazilian measures (found in books) are — 

 4 grains := 1 quilate (carat) zz: 0'203 grammes. 

 6 quilates ::= 1 escrupulo (scruple) zz: 1-218 grammes. 



"Our diamond rule is — 



16 parts r= 1 grain ::= 0'8 grains troy. 



4 grains = 1 carat zz: 3'2 grains troy. 



151'50 carats =: 1 ounce troy (oitavas or 256 vintems). 



16 ounces :zr 1 pound. 



[The Brazilian measure above allows 233 '81 grammes to 

 the Lisbon pound. The Brazilian Custom House makes the 

 pound :=: 458'92 grammes, which reduces the carat to 0*199 

 and the scruple to 1'195.] 



