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DIAMONDS.
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41
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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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