422 oo Diamonds. [July, 
king. At that time (about 1680) he found 60,000 persons en- 
gaged in searching for diamonds in the mines of Ellore, in India. 
Next to India in importance is South America. The mines in 
Brazil were opened in 1727, and the best of them are situated 
north of the Rio Janeiro. On the Rio Jequitinhonha and Rio 
Pardo the most remunerative fields are found. Other placiers 
have yielded very good diamonds, however. 
On Borneo, in the Ural Mountains, and in Australia, diamonds 
have been found. In the United States they have been collected 
at several localities, but only in comparatively isolated specimens. 
Diamonds have been obtained from North Carolina, Georgia, 
Virginia and California. The notorious occurrence of these pre- 
cious stones in what was termed the “Arizona diamond fields,” 
Situated in North-western Colorado, is probably still too fresh in 
the memory of everybody to require special mention. Diamonds 
were certainly found there, but, to use a popular phrase, “they 
had not grown there.” 
Recently discoveries of extensive diamond fields have been 
made in Africa. They are situated on and near the Orange and 
Vaal Rivers, and are being worked with energy. Although their 
discovery dates back but a comparatively short time, it appears 
that the existence of diamonds there was already known during 
the last century. According to Dr. J. W. Morton, the natives 
have for along time used diamonds from this locality to drill 
their stones, and eRe made periodical visits to replenish their 
supply of material. 
As is frequently the case, the present impetus in that region to 
mining operations was givén by the accidental discovery of a 
diamond. It was found in the hands of some children who were 
playing with the pretty pebble. 
Wherever diamonds are found, they occur in redeposited ma- 
terial. River-drift or boulder-clay may contain them. No matrix . 
for them has been recognized with certainty as yet, although it is 
claimed that the Itacolumite (flexible sandstone) of Brazil con- 
tains them. This assertion is scarcely proved, however, and even 
if it were so, this very Itacolumite is but the product of re- deposi- 
tion. It may be regarded as a significant fact, perhaps, that the 
localities of North Carolina and Georgia, where diamonds have 
_ been found, are not far removed from occurrences of flexible sand- 
. stone. In the South African diamond fields the gems are con- 
