Ch. 16: Origin of the Diamond

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	ORIGIN OF THE DIAMOND 373 among the bowlders, resisted the drive of torrents which carried off the smaller ones with the sand, and held fast, each in turn, near or far, finding at last an anchorage where it could await the coming of man. So long have they lain, that in some places the debris of succeeding ages has buried them many feet deep from the surface. At every diamond deposit the world over, the signs all point to the headwaters of the rivers in the mountains, but there the clue fails, for the rocks beneath and the sky above are silent. With the discovery of the African diamond chimneys came the conviction that Nature's laboratory for the crystallization of carbon was deep down in the earth, from which place she belched the product forth to the surface, to be weathered and washed and scattered hither and thither over the face of the earth, as successive cataclysms broke up the shielding walls of rock and exposed their precious contents to the surface elements. This advance of knowledge gave rise to many new theories, occasioned many and varied experiments, and suggested not a few pertinent questions, most of which yet remain unanswered. Among these queries are several which bar a solution of the problem: 1, Whence and in what form did Nature draw the supply of carbon? 2. How did she crystallize it? 3. Is the kimber-lite of Africa the material in which the carbon was crystallized and is that material necessary to its crystallization? Following these comes the question, "How were these vertical shafts or wells of Africa formed and filled with the diamondiferous earth? Before considering these questions let us review the conditions and circumstances attending the occurrence of diamonds,

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