some of its natural features, to Brazil. A few years later,
these gems were actually discovered by Humboldt and Rose,
on the west side of the Uralian chain, in the gold-bearing
alluvium on the banks of the river Adolfskoi, several feet
above a stratum containing fossil remains of the mammoth,
which has led some eminent scientists to conclude that the
diamond of this region was formed since the extermination of
this gigantic mammal. Since their first discovery, these precious stones have been found scattered along the western
declivity of the Urals, but not in large numbers as in the
mines of South America and South Africa.*
There is no country of modern times, unless it is Persia or
Brazil, that has a more extensive collection of diamonds, and
so many of remarkable size and beauty, than Russia, many of
them obtained by conquest, treaty, purchase, or inheritance.
The display of wealth in this gem at the London Exposition
of 1851 was unsurpassed. Among the exhibits from that
country, were a magnificent diadem comprising 1814 brilliants,
1712 rose diamonds, 11 very fine opals, and 67 rubies; besides
a bouquet of diamonds made in imitation of the eglantine and
the lily of the valley, and a wreath of diamonds representing
the bryony bearing pear-shaped emeralds. It is reported that
a splendid necklace of twenty-two large brilliants, with pendants composed of fifteen diamonds of large size, forms one of
the treasures of the Winter Palace.
The United States.— The gold-producing regions of the
United States, extending from Virginia to Alabama, have long
been known to yield the diamond, says Mr. Hamlin, but no
systematic mining operations have been inaugurated, and the
specimens discovered have been the result of accident rather
* A false diamond, which cannot be distinguished by sight from the genuine, is
abundant in Siberia, but its use, it is said, is strictly prohibited in Russia.
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