DIAMONDS. 57
course the principal of these. There must necessarily be a considerable amount of individual hand-work.
It
would almost seem, in fact, that, except under a system of slavery, the
diamond cannot be worked for profitably in India. The present system,
though not so called, practically amounts to much the same thing, the
actual operatives are by advances bound hand and foot to the farmers of
the mines, and these are content to wait for months together without
any return. Their outlay, too, is very small, no heavy expenditure of
capital being involved.
The
case is, in a measure, parallel to that of manufacturing iron. The
native iron-smelter, with no expensive plant, manages by a most
wasteful process to keep himself alive by making iron. The English
company turns out iron by the most approved methods, and after a time
goes into liquidation. Such has hitherto been the case, but I am
hopeful of the iron industry yet proving a success in India.
I
would lay no particular stress on the fact that the several attempts in
Southern India, at Sambalpur and at Panna, to work mines under European
management, ha\e hitherto failed. These failures may have been due to
causes with which the conditions I have above alluded to have nothing
to do ; they may have resulted from simple incompetency, death, or
sickness, &c.
My
colleague, Mr. King, in writing of the South of India mines, says that
it is not to be expected that diamond mining would, except by a mere
chance, prove a rapid road to fortune. But for those content with a
slowly-paying occupation and a hard life, involving close personal
supervision of the workers, it would pay, provided such persons
possessed capital sufficient to last them some years.
