GOLD AND GEMS.	193
	information, vouched for up to February 24 of the present year by the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics of the Treasury Debt. It will be at once recognised that America is the only country capable of furnishing such unquestionable evidence of the large increase in the application of diamonds since the Cape discoveries revolutionised the whole trade. Not only are precious stones duty free in the chief European countries, but no record is kept upon which it would be safe to found even an approximate estimate of their consumption.