some of the older mineralogists attempt to account for the
different colors of precious stones, their theories are not altogether satisfactory, and until further discoveries are made, we
must content ourselves with admiring their beautiful hues
without understanding Nature's methods of painting them.
The yellow diamond, perhaps, affords the greatest number
of shades, some of them surpassing in beauty every other gem
of this color; specimens of a canary tint are quite general.
Rose-colored diamonds are not so plentiful as has been supposed ; while the red, of rich deep tints surpassing the ruby in
beauty, are extremely rare, and constitute one of the most
magnificent ornamental stones known to exist. A few of this
variety are on record, comprising one weighing ten carats,
bought by the Emperor Paul of Russia, for one hundred thousand roubles, and another, referred to by Mr. Streeter, purchased of a London firm by a gentleman in Paris. Several
specimens occur of reddish shades, such as garnet, hyacinth,
lilac, and peach-blossom, seen in the different collections of
Europe. Blue diamonds rank next to the deep red for rarity
and beauty, those of a dark blue shade constituting beautiful
gems, which differ from the blue sapphire in the quality of the
tint, and in the play of colors peculiar to the diamond. The only
blue stones known have been found in the old mines of India,
none having been discovered, according to this writer (1877),
in Brazil or South Africa. He further states that besides the
Hope and the Brunswick blue diamonds, there are only three
gems of this kind in Europe that can with propriety be called
blue, and that all these differ from the Hope and from one
another.
Next to the yellow, for colored varieties, the green, including
all shades, are most numerous, yet the pure emerald or grassgreen diamond is rare, but when it does occur it forms a most
