356 THE DIAMOND MINES OF BENGAL
This
District belongs to SObah Bihar, and the river which flows through it
yields the diamonds.' Then follow accounts of the mines and Ibrahim
Khän's operations, all of which will be found quoted in the Economic Geology of India, p.
25. The account goes on to say, ' The District is now subject to me.
All diamonds found in the river are forwarded to court. Only a few days
ago a diamond arrived which had a value of Rs.50,000, and I hope many
more will be added to my store of jewels.' Among those received from
Ibrahim Khan was one which was coloured like a sapphire, it weighed
several ratis, and the lapidaries valued it at Rs.3,000, though they
would have given 20,000 had it been white and stood the test. Professor
Blochmann gives a quotation from a MS. history of the Maharajas of
Chota Nägpur, in which a method of testing diamonds for flaws is
described as consisting in fixing them on the horns of fighting rams.
General Dalton recorded that the family of the Râjâ of Chota Nägpur possessed a diamond from these mines valued at Rs.40,000.1
A large picture, representing the attack on the Palâmau fort in 1660 by
Däüd Khan, contains a figure of the Zamüidär-i-kän-i-almäs or Lord of
the Diamond Mine. General Dalton was, I believe, rather inclined to
think these mines somewhat mythical, while Professor Blochmann2 identified
the river with the Sânkh. As I had conversations with both of them on
the subject, I am satisfied that neither of them knew of Ta vernier's
references to this region, nor did I know of them then, and it was not
till some time after I became aware of them that I was able to show
that his Soumelpour was quite a different locality from Sambalpur on
the Mahânadï, with which most writers had identified it.
In
addition to Tavernier's own direct account of this locality, there is
another somewhat earlier in date, but which there is reason to believe
was derived from information obtained from him. Reference will be found
in Appendix VI to a work by Chappuzeau. In it there appears to be
reference to the locality in Bengal which produced diamonds under the
name Nage (i. e. Kokkonage or Chota Nägpur). In the year 1657 L'Escot
of Orleans (see p. 239) went there to purchase a diamond of 42 carats,
but he failed to get it.
Although
Tavernier's locality was on the Gouel River— i. e. the Koel, which runs
northwards to join the Son, and so reaches the Ganges—the Sänkh and
another Koel also take their rise close by, and running southwards they
form the Brahmani, which joins the delta of the Mahânadï, near the
coast of the Bay of Bengal. The Ebe River, a tributary
* Ethnology of Bengal, 163 n.
2 Journ. As. Soe. Bengal, xliii, pt. i. 240.
