Ch. 1: Diamonds of India

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	18	DIAMONDS.

	grains of dirty and pellucid quartz. This was the rock extracted in all the mines then being worked. The gangue is then pounded up, washed, sifted and laid out to dry on prepared floors, after which the residue of clean sand is carefully examined in the hand, by the women and children of the working parties, for the precious gems. I saw no diamonds in situ, nor did I see or hear of any diamond being found during my stay at Bana-ganpilly for four or five days at a time. Diamonds were brought to me which were reported to have been found in the mines ; but these were most disappointing in their minuteness, flaws, and dirty colours. I have already quoted Mr. King above as to the crystalline forms of these samples. He says that the good specimens were valued at only ten rupees by the merchants. But one specimen, said to have come from the Bellary district, but which, he thought, had probably been found on the spot, was valued at 350 rupees. Neither the Nawab of Banaganpilly nor his followers, nor the Tehsildar of the place, nor the merchants, could, or would, tell me of any better diamonds having been found for many years. Mr. King tracked the diamond-bearing strata for some miles westward beyond the region wherein it is worked. Munimudagu. In the neighbourhood of Munimudagu, sixteen miles west-by-south of Banaganpilly, there is a continuation of the diamond-bearing strata, which cover the older Kadapah rocks as with a thin skin. The locality is described both by Mr. King and Captain Newbold. The mines have long been deserted, but, according to the last-named authority, there was in his time a colony of diamond polishers in the town.

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