1876.] 
The Diamond in India . 
357 
Ptolemy (?), a little kingdom of eastern Bandelkhand, 
erected in 1809. The Rajah sent a jemadar to show him 
the Diggings, which are about twenty minutes’ walk from 
the town. The site is a small plateau covered with pebble- 
heaps, and, at the foot of a rise somewhat higher than 
usual, yawns the pit about 12 or 15 feet in diameter by 
about 180 feet deep. It is pierced in alluvial grounds, 
divided into horizontal strata, debris of gneiss and carbon- 
ates, averaging 13 metres : at the bottom is the diamond- 
rock, a mixture of silex and quartz, in a gangue of red 
earth (clay ?). The naked miners descend by an inclined 
plane, and work knee-deep in water, which the Noria or 
Persian wheel turned by four bullocks is insufficient to 
drain ; they heap the muddy mixture into small baskets, 
which are drawn up by ropes, whilst a few are carried 
by coolies. The dirt is placed upon stone slabs, and 
sheltered by a shed ; the produce is carefully washed, and 
the siliceous residuum is transferred to a marble table for 
examination. The workmen, each with his overseer, ex- 
amine the stones one by one, throwing back the refuse into 
a basket : it is a work of skill, as it must be done with a 
certain rapidity, and the rough diamond is not easily distin- 
guished from the silex, quartz, jasper, hornstone, &c. 
Tradition reports that the first diamonds of fabulous size 
were thus found, and the system of pits was perpetuated. 
When one pit is exhausted it is filled up, and another is 
opened. The system is bad, as 100 cubic metres must be 
displaced to examine one, and around each well a surface of 
twenty times the area is rendered useless. Moreover, much 
time is lost by the imperfect way of sinking the shaft, which 
sometimes does not strike the stone. 
This diamond stratum extends more than 20 kiloms. to 
the north-east of Pannah ; the most important diggings are 
those of the capital, of Myra, Etawa, Kamariya, Brijpur, 
and Baraghari. The mean annual produce ranges between 
£40,000 and £60,000 — a trifling sum, considering that the 
stones are the most prized and sell for a high price. They 
are pure and full of fire ; the colour varies from the purest 
white to black, with the intermediate shades, milky, rose, 
yellow, green, and brown. Some have been found weighing 
20 carats, and the Myra mine yielded one of 83, which be- 
longed to the Crown jewels of the Mogul. The real produce 
must be taken at double the official estimate. The Rajah 
has established an approximate average amount, and when 
this descends too low he seizes one of the supposed de- 
faulters and beheads him or confiscates his goods. He sells 
