Madras.] 



ORIENTAL COMMERCE. 



237 



The Indian cawney is in proportion to the English acre, as 1 is to 

 1.3223, or as 121 is tol60. 



To reduce Indian cawnies to English acres, multiply the given number of 

 cawnies by 160, and divide by 121 ; the quotient will be the number of acres, 

 and the remainder the fractional part of an acre- Or multiply the cawnies 

 by 1.3223, and the product, cutting off four places to the right hand, will 

 be the same, and the figures so cut off are the decimal parts of an acre. 



In the Jaghire, the ady, or Malabar foot, is used, which is 10.46 inches 

 English ; 24 adies make 1 culy ; and 100 square culies make 1 cawney, or 

 nearly an English acre. The common culy, however, is 26 adies, or 

 22£ English feet, which makes the cawney 1 acre, 281 perches. The pro- 

 per cawney would only contain 43.778 square feet 



Long Measure. — The covid in cloth measure is 18 inches ; but the 

 English yard is generally used. 



ARTICLES PROCURABLE AT MADRAS, WITH DIRECTIONS. 



Diamond. — This gem is the hardest, most beautiful, transparent, and 

 brilliant of all the precious stones. Diamonds are found only in the East 

 Indies and in Brazil, and are distinguished by jewellers into oriental and 

 occidental ; the finest and hardest being always termed oriental. When in 

 their rough state, they are either in the form of roundish pebbles, with 

 shining surfaces, or of octohedral crystals; but though generally in the 

 latter form, their crystals are often irregular ; they are lamellated, consist- 

 ing of very thin plates, like those of talc, but very closely united, the 

 direction of which must be ascertained by the lapidaries before they can 

 work them properly- They are usually covered with a thin crust, which 

 renders them semi-transparent ; but when this is removed, they are trans- 

 parent. 



The principal diamond mines in India are that of Raolconda in the 

 Carnatic ; that of Gani, or Coulour, also in the Carnatic ; that of Somel- 

 pour, or Goual, in Bengal ; and that of Succadana, in the Island of Borneo. 



These gems are generally imported from Madras in their rough state, 

 in small parcels called bulses, neatly secured in muslin, sealed by the mer- 

 chant, and are generally sold in Europe by the invoice, that is, are bought 

 before they are opened, it being always found they contain the value for 

 which they were sold in India, and the purchaser gives the importer such 

 an advance on the invoice as the state of the market warrants. The bulses 

 contain stones of various shapes and sixes. 



