Madras. ] 



ORIENTAL COMMERCE. 



grows in the stone, is in its original tender nature, it is liable tq all the 

 accidents we find in it, and by which it is so often damaged ; for jf some 

 little particle of sand or earth fall into the tender matter, it is locked up in 

 it, and becomes a foul, black spot; and as this is bigger or less, so it dimi- 

 nishes the value of the stone. This, at least, is the mode in which fouls 

 are accounted fur. 



Flaws are supposed to be occasioned by some accident, shake, or 

 violence which the stone received whilst in its bed, or in digging it out, and 

 this frequently occasions an open crack in the stone, sometimes from the 

 outside to the centre, and sometimes in the body of the stone, which does 

 not extend to the outside : but tins is much the worst, and will require 

 great judgment to know how far it does extend. It takes half from the 

 value. 



Holes are formed on the outside of the rough diamond, and must be 

 occasioned by some hard particle of sand falling into the tender substance 

 of the stones, which not being heavy enough to sink into the middle, 

 remains on the outside thereof, like a black spot, and being picked off, 

 leaves a round hole. 



The next and greatest difficulty will be to avoid beamy stones, and 

 this requires more skill and practice than any thing yet spoken of; yet time 

 and opportunity will enable you to discover them. Indeed a great many 

 stones are a little beamy in the roundest (by which is meant the edges) ; 

 but it is not so very material, though it diminishes the life of the diamond. 

 Jiv beamy stones, are meant such as look fair to the eye, and yet are so full 

 of veins to the centre, tliat no art or labour can polish them. These veins 

 run through several parts of the stone, and sometimes through all ; and 

 when they appear on the outside, they shew themselves like protuberant 

 excrescences, from whence run innumerable small veins, obliquely crossing 

 one another, and shooting into the body of the stone. The stone itself will 

 have a bright and shining coat, and the veins will look like very small 

 pieces of polished steel rising upon the surface of the stone. This sort of 

 stone will bear no polishing, and is scarcely worth a rupee per mangelin. 

 Sometimes the knot of the veins will be in the centre ; the fibres will shoot 

 outward, and the small ends terminate in the coat of the diamond. This 

 is more difficult to discover, and must be examined by a nice eye ; yet you 

 may be able here and there to observe a small protuberance, like the point 

 of a needle lifting up a part of the coat of the stone : and though by a great 

 deal of labour it should be polished, it will be a great charge, and scarcely 

 pay for the cutting, and therefore tt is to be esteemed as little better than 



