chap, xvi DISCOVERY OF THE KOLLUR MINE 57
when coming from the other mine,1
and at a league and a half from the town there are high mountains in
the form of a cross. The space between the town and the mountains is a
plain where the mine is situated and the diamonds are found. The nearer
one searches towards the mountains the larger the stones which are
found, but when one ascends too high nothing is found.2
It
is only about 100 years since this mine was discovered when a poor man,
digging a piece of ground where he purposed to sow millet, found a
pointe naive 3 weighing nearly 25 carats. This kind of
stone being unknown to him, and appearing remarkable, he carried it to
Golkonda, and by good luck addressed himself to one who traded in
diamonds. The trader having ascertained from the peasant the place
where he had found the stone, was much surprised to see a diamond of
such a weight, especially because the largest that had hitherto been
seen did not exceed 10 or 12 carats.4
The
rumor of this new discovery quickly spread abroad throughout all the
country, and some persons of wealth in the town commenced to mine in
this land, where they found, and where they still find, large stones in
greater abundance than in any other mine.5 There are found here at
1 i. e. the Kistna, crossed on the route from Raolconda (i. e. Rammala-kota) to Golkonda (see p. 54).
, ! The probable explanation of this is that the diamond-bearing strata do not extend far up the slope.
3 This term (Latin nativus) was
applied to natural octahedra and other modifications of the cube which
the diamond assumes. ' In this Roca Velha [old rock], there are
Diamonds founde that are called Nayfes ready cut, whioh are naturall,
and are more esteemed than the rest, specially by the Indians
themselves ' (Linschoten, ii. 137); cfr Fryer, ii. 143.
4 This statement is quite incorrect, as will be seen in Appendix I.
6 In the paper in the Phil. Trans., which
has just been referred to, the largest diamonds are said to have been
obtained at the mine of Currure, i.e. Wajra, Karfir in Bellary, where
some of a seize (ser ?) weight = 9 ounces troy, or 81 1/2 pagodas, were
reported to have been discovered. This mine, though unknown to
Tavernier, had been taken possession of by Mir Jumla about the year
1640. Probably there is some mistake in the weight. In the same paper
this Kollur mine is called Quolure, and it is said to have been the
first mine excavated in the Kingdom, but it was then nearly exhausted.
Many of the diamonds found there were well formed and pointed, and of
good lively white water, others were
