Ch. 3: Indian Diamonds

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	CHAPTER THREE

	INDIAN DIAMONDS

	As far as we know diamonds were first found in Central India. It is not known when diamonds were first mined in India. There is no evidence that Arabia ever produced any diamonds. Topaz occurred there, and white topaz was probably thought by the ancients to be a kind of diamond. It is quite possible that the Phoenicians in their day tricked the world as the Portuguese did later with the diamonds from Brazil. India, the land of gems, gave us the first diamonds known to commerce. They were found in various parts of Hindustan, Africa and in some of the Indian Islands, above all, in the territory of the Nizam, sometimes called Golconda, after a powerful fortress. A Sultan of this country died, in the time of the Crusades, bequeathing 400 pounds weight of diamonds to his successor. This little legacy, assuming all the stones to have been small, and if, as is probable, many of the gems exceeded one and two carats in weight, would have been worth approximately $42,000,000. Over two centuries ago diamonds were found in Brazil; 22

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