360 THE DIAMOND MINES OP BORNEO
a
place situated in the Eastern Ghats ! as stated by Castellani; nor that
the idea originated in some jumble about malachite, as has I think been
suggested by one writer.
As
it was with Pliny, so it has been with a host of other compilers ; we
find in the literature of precious stones the same places or the same
objects called by different names, and treated as though they were
distinct. It has been shown on p. 56 that Gani was a prefix signifying
' mine of' to the name Kollur, a diamond locality on the Kistna, though
it is commonly treated as though it were a name itself; and when we
find Malacca mentioned side by side with Borneo, as a diamond-producing
region, we should not suspect that its appearance in the lists is
simply due to a survival of an old name for Borneo. It is perhaps
needless to add, therefore, that it should be expunged from all future
lists.
The following facts with regard to the occurrence of the diamond in Borneo are chiefly extracted from Crawford's Dictionary and a paper by Dr. Posewitz.1
The original matrix of the diamonds of Borneo is, as yet, unknown; but,
as they are found in alluvial deposits, in the beds of certain rivers,
and in older alluvial or diluvial deposits together with gold and
platinum, it may be concluded with some probability that all come from
the same sources. The platinum is not known to have been met with in
the original matrix, but gold has been found in situ in Palaeozoic rocks.
The
most famous and apparently the earliest known diamond mines were
situated in West Borneo, in the Districts of Landak and Sangau, while
some diamonds are reported to have been obtained in Sarawak. Dr.
Posewitz does not refer to their occurrence at Tanjongpura, on the
Pawan river, nor in Sukadana, where earlier writers state they were
found.
In
Southern Borneo the most abundant mines and washings are in the
neighbourhood of the Tanahlaut hills, which form the boundary between
Southern and Eastern Borneo, near Martapura and Tjempaka. The produce
of these localities is best known in connexion with the name
Banjarmasin, a territory and seaport now held by the Dutch. It should
be added that there are some minor localities in the region between
Banjarmasin and Sukadana. In Eastern Borneo the territory of Kusan, to
the east of the Tanahlaut range, also incllides some mines. In British
North Borneo there are believed to be some diamond-bearing localities,
but as
1 Das Diamqntvorkommen in Borneo, Mitth. a. d. Jahrb. d. K. Geol. Anst., Bd.
vii, Budapesth, 1885. ' Borneo is amazingly rich in minerals, gold,
silver, coal, iron, and even diamonds being won from it, mostly by the
industrious Chinese, while in other parts there are rich oil-wells, for
which a rich future has been predicted' ('Natural Wealth in British
North Borneo,' The Times, 24 May, 1921).
