=~ 
many amorous, poems and 
~ 
‘286 afccount of the Diamond 
sonnets, 
which he had_ before hinagicsed: and de- 
voted himself, for the remainder of his 
life, to the study of the Scriptures and the 
Fathers of the Church. Having large es- 
tates he was very liberal to the poor ; and 
three years before his death, he sold most 
ef his estates, and gave away the pro- 
duce to necessitous people, that he might 
free himself from every incumbrance: 
‘He reserved only enough for his own bare 
comfortable subsistence i in his retirement. 
He achered firmly to the Romish com- 
faunion, and punisued himseif with eon- 
tinual penances, which were then thought 
meritorious. At length he died near 
Florence, in'1494. 
I Jearn from my papers, that the son 
above-mentioned, was afterwards brought 
to England; and, after many changes of 
fortune, and much diffic ulty to subsist, 
he engaged himseli with a carpenter at 
Marlborough, in Wiltshire, and followed 
that trade during the rest of his life. I 
Delieve his death is to be tou: id in the 
yegister of that town, about the year 
1505. He lett several sons, one of whein 
followed his busisess. 
There is such a coincidence of circum- 
@tances in this fittle history, and Dr, 
Wike’s account of tis fat nilyy. that I can- 
mot duc think these were iiis ancestors. 
‘And if so, Is descent ‘was what the 
world calls a greatone. But he would 
wot have set any value on this, if he had 
Enown it, for no man ever held mere 
aristocracy in more complete ~contem ps 
than he. 
T have endeavoured to de some little 
justice to departed merit. Perhaps I” 
* have exceeded proper bourids: & there. 
#ore hasten to conclude. 
Your’s S, &c. 
Chapter Coffce-house, Sept, 1809. 
wae 
For the Monthly Magazine 
account of the DIAMOND MINES in the 
PROVINCE Of BUNDELCUND 3 from mR. 
GP ay Cee published at 
ALCUITA. 
TAMONDS ¢ 
W. B. 
S: found within the 
earth, round the city of Punnah, 
(the capital of the prov nuce of Bundel- 
cund, Miers ant about 150 miles to the 
: eS westward of pee) and to 
he extent of twenty-four miles in the di- 
_ rections of east, north, and west, ‘from 
the precincts of that city; it is 4 Hindao 
ferritory, governed by a rajah. 
. Any person, foreigner or native, may 
search for aagke pata his domi- 
nions without let or molestation. Mera 
Mines of Bundelcund. [Feb. 4, 
chants from Guzerat, Surat, Joynagur, 
Dehly, Benares, ‘Allahabad, Lucknow, 
and Furrakabad, are those who chiefly 
resort to Punnah for that express pur- 
pose. ‘They employ workmen to dig for 
them, at the rate of five rupees per 
month, over whom guards, belonging to 
the rajah, are stationed, in order to as 
certain the precise number found, and to 
appraise their value, Oue-fourth of their 
worth is given to the rajah, either in mo. 
ney or kind; the residue is left to the 
merchants for their own benefit, For 
all, however, superior in price to $0,000 
. tupées, the rajah g vives the merchant onc- 
aan th, and keeps the stones himself. 
These germs are usually found le 
eighteen inches from the surface, at six 
feet deep, and at twenty-four feet deep, 
amidst a rough, coarse, honey-combed, 
brown stone, or gravelly substance, called 
khakroo, ae ad with a dusky red argijila- 
ceous earth, like ochre, but both so bard 
that the miner cannot sometimes excar 
vate a foot square during a whole a 
Where there 13, no khakroo, they a 
not to be met with; of this thd lido, 
when burnt, is made fine From hence 
it should seem, that this concretion is a 
matrix of ae generation. When t 
Rhckroo is discovered attwenty-four ee f, 
the miner desists from delving lower. 
Round their pits they leave arches, wide 
enough for two people to traverse. From 
the mines the earth is hoisted in baskets, 
and then rinced and sifted. When dia- 
monds are amongst it, their crystais 
emit a lustre, by w ‘hich they are presently 
discerned sand easily distinguished, Those 
jew els w bith are of a larger size, or finer 
thaucommon, the rajah (as above mene 
tioned) reserves for his own wear, or dise 
poses of himself to the more considerable 
inerchants. 
Diamonds are said to have been dis- 
covered within this district nat more than 
sixty years ago, (and like most other ex- 
traordinary discoveries) by accident. 
Children were casually seen playing with 
‘some rough stones, by a lapidary, who - 
chanced to come to Punvah from Be- 
ates. He honestly disclosed to the ra- 
jah the nature and value of them, whe - 
caused the earth to be explored accords 
ingly, and they were found near the fol- 
lowing villages, Rangpore, Mujgawaa, 
Chowperrah, Berrejepore, Ewowah, 
Jowhurpore, Manikpore, and Cowahko. 
None are found in the vicinity of Chat- 
terpore, a town.about thirty miles north. 
westerly of Pannah, as has been, erro- 
neously supposed. 
Kk 
