Some Notes on Ancient Ideas concerning the Diamond.. 307 
cleavage fragments. Another, though rarer, way in which a natural bead 
can be formed may arise when a number of diamonds crystallise in a cluster. 
Suppose, e. g., that two diamonds grow corner to corner (as they often 
enough do), and that a third grows round the contact. If, then, in the 
mining or winning they should fall apart the third will appear as a bead. 
This second way gives the most elegant beads. Not that it is essential that 
a diamond should be bored through in order that it may be strung on a 
thread, for it might be mounted on a metal bead. By way of illustration, 
" it is no uncommon sight to see the natives of Borneo wearing waistcoats 
ornamented with gold buttons, in each of which a diamond is set." * 
In the same footnote is the following : S. K. Aiyangar calls attention 
to the fact that the first systematic reference to diamonds is made in the 
Artha9astra of Kautilya. He mentions six kinds of diamonds classified 
according to their mines, and described as differing in lustre and degrees of 
hardness." It is not clear whether this is really intended to mean that 
different Indian localities produce different types of diamond, or whether 
it refers to their grading, named after the castes, as Brahmins, Kshatriyas, 
etc., just as cut diamonds to-day are classed as Rivers, Jagers, Wesseltons, 
etc., according to their quality, and irrespective of their proper source. It 
is well known, of course, that diamonds have a local individuality, and the 
fact has an important bearing on the problem of their origin. As the 
accurate John Mawe told us more than a century ago, " The mineralogist 
who has been in the habit of seeing and accurately examining numerous 
specimens of this gem acquires a kind of tact that enables him to distinguish 
at once and with little risk of mistake a holsa of stones from Hindostan, 
and a similar one from Borneo, or from the Portuguese territories in South 
America ; nay, even the diamonds furnished by one part of the Serro do 
Frio may be discriminated from those of other parts of Brazil, or even of 
the same district. But these characters, although sufiiciently visible to the 
experienced eye, are too evanescent to be restricted within technical descrip- 
tion, and are as yet entirely unknown to the commercial dealers in precious 
s tones, "t 
In the same way no person of experience would mistake the source of a 
parcel of South African diamonds won from one spot. The production of 
one mine is not like that of any other.:]: An individual stone may be of 
doubtful origin sometimes ; e. g. db particularly sharp-edged glassy octa- 
hedron from Bultfontein might, seen alone, be mistaken for a Monte Leo 
stone ; but the source of half-a-dozen Bultfontein glassies, taken as they 
come, would not be in doubt. So experts might differ as to whether 
* G. H. Smith, ' Gem Stones/ 1912, p. 155. -j 
t ' A Treatise on Diamonds and Precious Stones/ 1815, p. 32. 
X And this is true not only of the diamond, but also of the other minerals forming 
the kimberlite matrix. 
