would cut through it as it would cut through the radish and carrot. It is,
therefore, quite possible that the lead coated round the diamond has the
same effect.
It has been said about the diamond that the best kind is crystalline,
followed by the red variety. Half a mithqal of it is said to fetch a hundred dinars. Al-Kindi writes:
The best kind is that which in the sunlight displays the variegated
colours of the rainbow. One mithqal of it the size of the grain of a
pepper fetches a price of eighty dinars. I have not seen a stone
bigger than the pinenut. The bigger pieces are three to four times
costlier than the smaller ones.
Razi brothers say:
We have not seen a piece larger than three dirhatn weight.
The stone is measured with the dirham as the standard, not mithqal as in the case of the emerald, or Badakhshanian ruby, and the
gold obtained from wells in the form of grains and which is not
heated. It is said that each dirham of the small grains (of the stone)
is priced at 100 dinars and a full segment one thousand dinars.
Nasr has narrated upon the authority of Mu'izz al-Dawlah Ahmad bin
Buwayh that Mu'izz al-Dawlah sent the gift of a diamond jewel weighing
three mithqals to his brother, Rukn al-Dawlah. Such a weight had not
been heard of in the case of diamonds.
The diamond mine is situated in an island where there are streams,
The sand from these streams is taken out and washed, as the lodes of
gold are washed. The sand is decanted in a conical vessel. The diamond
particles settle down. These mines occur in Khwar which faces Serandib.
Abu al 'Abbas 'Ummani says that its mine is situated in Tankalan
Qamrun within a fiery mountain. Its clay is washed during the year in
which lightning flash more frequently. Al-Kindi says: "It is picked up
from the stones found in ruby mines." This is quite possible, as ruby
and diamond occur in the same place and bear resemblance and close relationship to each other.
Some have said that the diamond occurs in gold mines, if this be
correct, it could occur in the mine in the islands of Zabij. These islands
are designated the Home of Gold. In Hindiya they are known as Suwarudlp, that is, the Isles of Gold and also Suwaran-bharam, that is, the
Golden Earth.
They argue that files are rendered useless by something that occurs
with pure gold in the size of a grain of sand and causes sores like those
made by diamond. Gold is, therefore, thoroughly melted, so that this
foreign presence separates. The melters designate it as samas.
This name is also employed for the turunjah used in the extraction of
gold, which is the golden marcasite. Such a stone is sometimes found to
