BORT CARBONS, ETC. 321
pieces have a vitreous sheen like a piece of molten glass. This characterizes many of the carbons from the Morro district.
There
are certain risks attached to the breaking up of the large stones which
make them highly speculative. There are sometimes vicissitudes of price
in the journey from the cascalho to the machine maker, and they lose
not less than ten per cent, of the weight in breaking. For the large
carbon of 1895 the finder got about $16,000; the owner of the claim
receiving one-fourth of the amount. It went through' several hands and
was sold in Bahia city for 121,000 milreis, equal at that time to about
$25,400. The London buyer paid about $32,000 for it, and after breaking
it up, got nearly $36,000 for it. The smaller one of 1901 brought the
finder $17,380, or about five times as much comparatively, so much had
the price advanced in the six years. The rapid development of
electrical and other machinery is indicated by the rapid rise in the
price of carbons. In 1884, $4 to $4.50 per carat was paid to miners in
the fields for unassorted lots of good material. In 1898 the price was
up to $11 and over. In 1902 it was reported in London that £8.10 to £9
per carat was paid in Brazil for fine quality carbons of the desirable
sizes, though consular reports quoted $24 as the price paid in the
field for unassorted stones over three-quarters of a carat; $7.20 for
half to three-quarters of a carat stones, and $2.75 for smaller ones
mixed with imperfect pieces and refuse diamonds.
The limits of prices given by Bahia firms to their
field buyers to be paid in the spring of 1906 was given
by former Vice-consul Rowe as follows: 21
