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48
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DIAMONDS.
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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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