440 
liHF THOP-CAL AGRlOULTURISTv [December i, 1891. 
in p compact comfortable room we I'cund some 
balf-dozen experts dealing with <iamo .as '• iu the 
rough." They had a most ingenious way 01 holding 
the gem in wax fitted into a bendy tool, while 
with a diamond cutter in the other hand they 
proceeded to test and seek out any flaw. Diamo ds 
were lyiDg about in what seemed to us rather a 
careless way ; but apart from visitors allowed 
in, being very few and far between, and always 
under responsible guidance, the operators are, 
through a system of co-operation more like part- 
ners, while for all diamonds handed to them, 
they are made strictly responsible, the record 
being taken not simply in number but by weight 
each morning before commencing work. A flaw 
having been detected in a stone, it is the business 
of the operator to cut it out in the most soien- 
tifio manner consistent with the utilising of the 
gem otherwise. This done, the diamonds are 
passed down to the next floor where more skilled 
workmen are employed cutting round the now flaw- 
less gem and making it ready for polishing: they 
are assisted by lathes driven by the steam machi- 
nery at the basement. The third and most im- 
portant treatment is the polishing, and here we have 
a large room full of machinery, drums, pulleys and 
belts flying around at great speed to give the 
requisite speed for the polishing of the many facets 
of the diamond with diamond dust. But it may 
be asked how are the gems, so small as most of 
them are, held by the polisher or the machine in 
which the polishing takes place. Wax is obviously 
too soft for this operation, and so it has been found 
that lead is best, each polisher having a man be- 
hind him melting lead and inserting the diamond 
in a large lump which, when cool, shows only the 
one facet of the diamond that has to be operated on 
in polishingi So that for each facet, there must 
be a fresh melting and re- arrangement, and when I 
state that there are 64 facets in all (32 on each side) 
of a stone, it will be judged that even with the aid 
of machinery and all modern appliances, two days 
are not too much for the polishing of a single 
diamond. But then in the polishing machine, 
revolving nearly 1,000 times a minute, several 
BtoneS are being operated on at once. I hap- 
pened to have with me a Ceylon catseye, small 
but of good shape and colour, and a " Matara 
diamond" (which, by the way, had been pro- 
nounced by a Dublin jeweller some years ago, to 
be glass !) and the young experts dealing with 
diamonds in the rough, were a good deal interested 
in the Ceylon stones— to them novel and 
interesting, especially the catseye. The " Matara 
diamond," they tested and pronounced to be " a 
diamond of the second-class." We were shown the 
difference between the Brazilian rose diamond and 
the white stone of the South African finds. Then 
by permission of the heads of the house, we were 
taken to see some of their special property in the 
safes — a splendid collection of finished, sparkling 
gems, set and unset. Finally we inspected models 
in glass of all the great diamoads of the world, includ- 
ing the " Great Mogul" belonging to the Tsar, cut as 
a rose and not very clear; of the "Kohinur" 
aa originally got for Queen Victoria and as after- 
wards cut, a brilliant of the first water and 
magnificent in size ; the diamond worn in his cap 
by the Shah of Persia ; some of the very fine 
diamonds in Iho French State collection ; a grand 
Btone found at the Cape ; and I suppose among the 
models must have bern one of tho diamond sent 
by Mr. Jacob of Kimla to the Nizam, valued at 
£480 000, whiohihas lately been the subject of a 
trial ' tho Nizam repudiating the bargain and 
returning the slono. Altogether, a most interesting 
afternoon was spent in this, the largest Amsterdam 
Diamond-polishiug Establishment, making us for the 
future to understand and appretiaie the great care 
and txaotitude manifested in this branch of in- 
dustry. 
JAVA TEA AND CACAO 
SUMATEA TOBACCO. 
AND 
market, 
eompeti- 
&o. No 
practice, 
to cultivate and 
a market in their 
cocoa " there is a big 
There is one matter I want to bring before the 
Ceylon Planters' Association in reference to Java 
planters and Holland. While Amsterdam is 
deoi(^edly the headquarters market for Sumatra 
tobacco (and very depressed I found this market 
to be, scarcely any dividends for shareholders and 
owners this jear), and Java cinchona bark ; yet 
the Eame can by no means be said of Java tea 
acd cacao. For the latter products Java planters 
look to Loudon as their principal 
and thereby bring their crops into direct 
tion with those from Ceylon, India, 
fault can be found with them for this 
except insofar as they fail 
endeavour to create and extend 
mother land- Already for 
demand in Holland, and " Van Houten's Cocoa " 
(we saw his Village Factory outside Amsterdam) 
being known far and near on the Continent, I can- 
not see why every owt. of Java cocoa should not 
sell as advantageously in Amsterdam as in London. 
Tho case is different in respect of tea ; for although 
in one province of Holland — Friesland, bordering 
on Germany — the people are reported to be great 
tea drinkers, in the country generally, tea-drinking 
is far from common and the product is only now 
beginning to come to the front, and I believe 
China rather than Java, teas rule the market. At 
any rate, I only saw one " Java Tea Agency " 
established in Amsterdam, and it is quite clear 
from the quantity (yearly increasing) of Java tea 
going to London, that the home market is not 
much cultivated or studied. Now, why should 
not the Java tea planters be asked to do in Holland, 
what their Ceylon and Indian brethren have so 
well done in the United Kingdom'! Who but the 
Java planters in their Associations or Unions should 
make known the virtues of their teas to all the people 
in Holland and even Belgium and Western Germany, 
and " advertise, advertise " until not only is all 
"China" stuff driven out, but a vastly increased 
consumption of tea is established throughoHt the 
land. The effect of this would, of course, be to 
relieve the London market of Java tea, bringing it 
on to Amsterdam, and to increase the total Conti- 
nental demand for our staple. Now, I trust the 
Chairman and Committee of the Ceylon Planters' 
Association or Tea Fund, will see that here is a 
case in which they may very well offer some good 
advice to the Java sister-institutions, based on their 
own example and experience. Surely the Java tea 
planters— a most enterprising body — will not refuse 
to organize and contribute to a fund to help to spread 
the fame of their tea in Holland and adjacent 
provinces ; but in order to get them to make a 
start, the necessary impulse and information must 
surely be given from Ceylon. I feel sure it will not 
be Mr. Philip's fault if this is not done. 
Amsterdam has a very full library and I spent 
a pleasant morning there, taking notes among 
the rest of, what seemed to me, all the uncommon 
volumes or State Becorda referring in any way to 
Ceylon, of which there was a goodly collection. — 
The grand Central Railway station is another 
feature of the Dutch capital — tho building and very 
convenient as well as complete arrangements of 
this one yuliicient station reflecting great credit 
on the authorities and architect, the building, taste- 
fully decorated, being a work of art in itself, 
