ably assemble to pick up what they can, and in that fact we probably have the remainder of the foundation of the story.
It
is probable, also, that the story by Pliny and other early writers, of
the diamond being softened by the blood of a he-goat, had its origin in
such sacrifices.
As
to whether these or other diamond mines in India could be profitably
worked again I cannot now discuss here ; but I may say that I do not
believe that they can be truly described as being exhausted.
APPENDIX IV
The Diamond Mines of Borneo.
In the Colloquies of Garcia da Orta, in the Travels of Linschoten, in the works of De Boot1 and De Laet,2
and in many treatises on precious stones, up to some of those most
recently published, we find, as has already been stated in the note on
p. 67, that Malacca is mentioned as a locality where diamonds occur.
This was for a long time a sore puzzle to me, especially as among
modern writers on Malacca, with the exception of Miss Bird,3
none claimed that Malacca was known to be a diamond producing country,
while some local inquiries which I made through the late Mr. W. Wynne,
of the Straits Civil Service, confirmed an opinion, founded on the
character of the geological structure, that probably none had ever been
found there.
The
solution of the difficulty is afforded by the fact that the name
Malacca was applied by the early Portuguese writers to Borneo, and that
the Taniapura which they mention was Tanjongpura in Borneo.
I
am indebted to Mr. D. F. A. Hervey for the information tliat Tanjong
pura (the Tandjong Poera of the Dutch) is situated about 30 miles up
the river Pawän in the northern part of the Mätan District, adjoining
Sukadana. The name, he states, is a hybrid, Tanjong being the Malay for
a point (of land), and pura a Malayan version of the Sanskrit pur, a
town.
Such is the true explanation, and not that Malacca was
1 De Lapidi, et Gemm., 3rd
ed., by De Laet, Lug. Bat. 1647, p. 121. When enumerating the
localities where the diamond is obtained, he says, ' Alia est rupes ad
fretum Tanian in Malacca que etiam profert ada-mantes qui de rupe
veteri vocantur '. De Boot's original work was published in 1609.
2 De Gemm. et Lapidi., Lug.
Bat. 1647, p. 2, ' Juxta fretum Taniapurae haud longe ab Emporio
celeberrimo Malacca alia earumdem gemmarum fodina est linde vulgo
Malacenses appellanti» '.
3 The Golden Chersonese, 261.
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