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22
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DIAMONDS.
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King,
to have been wrong in identifying this deposit, which rests on gneiss,
with the true old diamond conglomerate of Banaganpilly, of which it
should, therefore, not be regarded as an outlier—though, doubtless,
there is some similarity in the component pebbles, &c, which form
both rocks.
Dr.
Benza believed the conglomerate to be continuous from hence through
Ellore and Rajahmundry to Samulcotah, where also diamonds are said to
have been found.
PURTIAL OR PURTEEALI.
The mines so called are situated near a village of the same name, which is not far from
Kondapilly,
about 150 miles from Haidrabad, on the road to Masulipatam. The
property of them was reserved by the late Nizam when he ceded the
northern circars to the English Government. They are superficial, not
extending ten or twelve feet deep in any part. For some years past the
working of them has been discontinued.
Mr. Briggs, the author of the above, who is quoted by Captain Burton,* adds :—
And there is no tradition of their ever having produced very valuable stones.
Captain
Burton remarks upon the statement that it is full of error, as the Pitt
or Regent diamond came from Purtial, but Captain Newbold says it came
from Borneo, being bought by Mr. Pitt, from a merchant of Bencoolen, in
Sumatra.
Regarding
the origin of these diamonds from the various localities bordering the
Kistna river, near Kondapilly, Captain Newbold expresses his belief
that the materials of the beds were brought down
• " Quarterly Journal of Science," N.S., vol. vi. 1876.
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