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THE BOOK OF DIAMONDS
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excellence of crystallization and for their purity of color.
Later,
when diamonds were found in Brazil they were carefully packed in cases
and shipped to Paris or Amsterdam. At the time they were discovered
here, Brazil was a rough, undeveloped Portuguese province. The
Portuguese crown took immediate steps to assume control of the fields.
The
discovery was made in the neighborhood of Tejuco, a town about three
miles north of Rio de Janeiro and about two hundred and fifty miles
west of the Atlantic Ocean.
The
contract system was abandoned in 1772, and for more than fifty years
the government itself operated the mines very ineffectively and at high
cost. The diamonds were sent in to Diamantina once a month, thence to
Rio de Janeiro once a year. The latter shipments were always sent under
military escort in a box with three locks, the keys for which were sent
by three separate messengers.
The
work was mostly done by negro slaves who occupied long sheds with
troughs on each side. Upon elevated seats sat overseers who watched the
men and received the diamonds when found. When a slave found a diamond
he raised his right hand and shouted; the overseer approached him,
received the diamond and rewarded him. If the diamond was over 17
carats in weight the lucky finder received his freedom, was crowned
with flowers and was allowed to look for diamonds thereafter for his
own benefit. For gems of lesser weight lesser rewards were given.
Innumerable
precautions were taken to prevent thefts by the workmen. The men were
stripped before they left the shed and left their working-clothes in
the hands of the
3°
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