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CHAPTER THREE
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INDIAN DIAMONDS
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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;
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