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THE DIAMOND MINES OF INDIA 161
them
at first as curios. Learning in course of time how very hard they were,
they were put in use as cutters and gravers, and attention was drawn to
them by their preeminence over all other known substances in the
quality of hardness. Writers enlarged upon the theme and invented such
fabulous stories about them, that eventually the diamonds of India
became a world's wonder. The larger and more perfect crystals would
naturally attract the attention of rulers and be used as jewels. Once
established in favor with a potentate, they would be desired by others.
The
high estimation to which the stone attained was undoubtedly of very
slow growth, but as its use for mechanical purposes or as an ornament
grew, the search for them would naturally grow with it until, as in
later instances, instead of being regarded as a by-product of the gold
mines, diamonds would become the chief incentive for mining, and gold
the by-product.
Tradition
tells that the diamond was worn as a jewel in India, 5000 years ago.
The Bible establishes its existence as a graver nearly three thousand
years back. The poets and historians of Greece and Rome over two
thousand years ago, inform us that India was the source of it. The
diamond-mining industry in India is therefore certainly three thousand
years old, and one may reasonably think that it is twice that age.
Notwithstanding
Pliny's statement that diamonds were so precious that kings only, and
but few of them, could afford to own them, there is no evidence that
they were considered a jewel of the first rank in India until
comparatively late times. If they had been so regarded,
more would have been brought back by the Greeks and 11
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