of io carats and upwards had been reserved in the old Golconda mines, then exhausted or stopped.
Diamonds
of large size have always been extremely rare, even in India itself.
Tavernier asserts that before the opening of the Coulour mine, about
the year 1550, the largest ever found weighed only from 10 to 12
carats. This statement cannot, however, be accepted in the face of
distinct evidence to the contrary. De Laet informs us that, " in the
mines some, but extremely rarely, are found of 100, 130, and even 200
carats ; more numerous are those of 8, 9, 10, and 15, while those of
lesser weight are far more abundant."* So also Adrian Toll, editor of De Bool, says,
" In Bisnagar, diamonds are found weighing 140 carats, such as Monard
says he himself had seen." He also declares that he heard from
trustworthy authorities of one weighing 250 carats, and that it was the
size of a small hen's egg. The recently-discovered South African
diamond fields are no doubt remarkable for the relatively large number
of good sized stones which they have yielded. But even here the
absolute number of such specimens is small, so that the statement of
Mawe,t writing early in the present century, still holds good that
although small stones are sufficiently abundant to be within the reach
of a moderate expenditure ; yet those of larger size are, and ever have
been, rare. He adds
