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DIAMONDS. 31
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of
the Mahanadi River, especially at Sambalpur, and about the mouths of
the Hebe, Khelu, and Mand streams, but their beds have not hitherto, I
believe, been traced." Captain Burton mentions* that, according to
some authority not named, the Majnodi, a tributary of the Mahanadi,
contained diamonds. In the Central Provinces Gazetteer it is stated that:
During the period of native rule some fifteen or twenty villages were granted rent-free to a class called Jhiras, in consideration of their undertaking the search for diamonds. When the country lapsed in 1850, these villages were resumed.
So
far as can be gathered from the various sources of information, large
and valuable diamonds have been occasionally met with ; but the
evidence on this point is somewhat conflicting. I do not think,
however, that what we know is altogether consistent with the statement
in the Gazetteer, that " the best stones ever found here were thin and flat, with flaws in them."
Local
tradition speaks of one large diamond, which was found during the
Maharatta occupation. Its size made its discovery too notorious ;
otherwise it would, in all probability, like many other smaller ones
found at that time, never have reached the hands of the Maharatta
agent. It is said to have weighed two tolas and two mashas (at ten
mashas to the tola)f which would be about 316*2 grains troy, or,
expressed in carats, 90/3. It would be impossible, of course, to make
any estimate of the value of a rough stone of this size, regarding the
purity, colour, &c, of which
*
"Quarterly Journal of Science," N.S., vol. vi. p. 351. 1876. t (One
masha=14'37 grains troy): properly speaking there are 12 mashas in a
standard tola.
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