Ch. 4: Brazilian Diamonds

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	BRAZILIAN DIAMONDS It was related by Dr. Beke, in a paper read at a meeting of the British Association, that a Brazilian slave, seeking for diamonds in the river, broke with his iron bar through a crust of silicious material, cemented together by oxide of iron, in which he discovered a bed of diamonds which were afterwards sold for 1,500,000 dollars. This immense quantity, being carried to England, so overstocked the market that few of the English houses were able to stand up against it. In the latter half of the eighteenth century new discoveries extended the Brazilian fields gradually from Diaman-tina (this place was formerly called Tejuco) northward into the province of Bahai, westward into Goyaz and finally into the jungle province of Matto Grasso, almost to the Bolivian frontier. The district is an exceedingly rough plateau at an elevation of about 4,000 feet above sea level, cut up by gorges and deep valleys, enclosed by abrupt mountain walls. In all these fields the diamonds, as in India, are found in the beds of present streams or in solid rocks formed by the compression of very ancient river-sands. Here again, geologists have had little success in tracing the stones to their source. Here the season is in January when the rains have ceased, and the rivers run clear. The diamantine earth is carried into an enclosure surrounded by a wall from a foot to two feet high, with little drains at the foot. The washing here begins with the rains about November. The material is washed in troughs with water from a shovel. The contents are then stirred with the fingers of the washer to relieve the 33

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