Ch. 1: Diamonds of India

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	DIAMONDS.	41

	In the Central Provinces Gazetteer it is stated that "good sandstone and granite are obtained near the town; and mines of diamonds and rubies were formerly worked in the vicinity." The statement that rubies were found requires confirmation. The examination of the geological structure of this neighbourhood, and a comparison of it with that of Sambalpur, will, doubtless, be undertaken ere long by the Geological Survey. If the stratum which contains the diamonds should be identified, and if its lateral extension should prove equal to the known area occupied by the Vindhyan (or Karnul) rocks, then we shall have a diamond-bearing tract probably greater in area than either those of Karnul or Bandelkhand. Chutia Nagpur. As already stated above, on page 25, the upper portion of Ptolemy's Adamas flus passes through a district named Cocconage, which would include Chutia Nagpur. Independently of this, however, there are good reasons for believing that diamonds were found in Chutia Nagpur. The following notices on the subject I quote from a Paper by the late Mr. Blochmann :— Kokrah (the ancient name of Chutia Nagpur) was known at the Mogul Court for its diamonds, and it is evidently this circumstance which led the generals of Akbar and Jahangiri to invade the district. I have found two notices of Kokrah in the Akbarnamah, and one in the Tuzuk-i-Jah,angiri, from which it appears that Chutia Nagpur was ruled over in 15S5 by Madhu-Singh, who in that year became tributary to Akbar. He was still alive "Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal," vol. xi.

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