Ch. 1: Diamonds of India

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	48	DIAMONDS.

	Mr. Medlicott notices the transition of the conglomerate from its position among the shales to its condition as a pure fine sandstone conglomerate. In reference to the extension of the conglomerate, he remarks that from the nature of the case—its occurrence among fine beds—it Jias per se a precarious existence. He finds it difficult to determine the reasons why the deposit has not been worked in some localities, as at the base of the hills. In some cases, in the outlying patches, the margin of the deposit has been reached, in others it may have died out; the latter state of things might be readily ascertained were a few trenches dug in selected localities. Mr. Medlicott makes some suggestions as to the original matrix of the gem, which I have already quoted. Besides the mines, he enumerates several localities where there were workings in accumulations of superficial detritus ; these are at Udesna, Sakeriya, Mujgoan, and Boghin. Udesna. The mines were being worked at Udesna :— There was water in all the pits, at what appears to be the level of the top of the boulder bed, under an irregular thickness of yellow clay, variously charged with kunkur and laterite gravel; the gangue is a stiff gravelly clay. Sakeriya. As at Udesna, there is a variable depth of clay, the middle third being kunkury and the lower lateritic ; below this, the clay becomes charged with gravel, pebbles, and boulders, these rapidly increasing in size to great angular blocks of sandstone, scarcely moved from their original beds ; it is from between these that the best stuff is got, a stiff unctuous clay, with quartz gravel through it. Above

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