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Ch. 2: Adamas, Diamond

Ch. 2: Adamas, Diamond Page of 377 Ch. 2: Adamas, Diamond Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
ADAMAS.
45
bye) describes the Adamas as of a sky colour This, according to him, formed the " Declaration " or Urim and Thummim worn over the high priest's breast­plate; "the change in the colour of which, when he came out from the sanctuary, manifested the favour or anger of Jehovah." Certain stones were used in jewelry a century ago under the name of "Diamonds of Baffa" (Paphos), but the remembrance of what they really were is now en­tirely lost in the trade ; some conjecturing them to have been Jargoons,* others only quartz-crystal. Lessing, how­ever, was inclined to consider them as something more akin to the real stone than either of these. But I have at last discovered that the "Paphian Diamonds" are yet commonly used in the Levant for necklaces, and are no more than the rock-crystal of Baffo.
Pliny remarks that the Diamond is the companion of gold, and seems only to be produced in gold itself. He is here correct, though perhaps it may be but by an accidental coincidence ; for all the Diamond-mines, the discovery of which is recorded, have been brought to light in pursuit of alluvial gold-washings. This was notably the case with the oldest in the Serra do Frio, Brazil, and the most productive in the world. Australian " diggins " have already furnished a few, and will pro­bably yield a vast supply when their gravel comes to be turned over by people having eyes for other objects than nuggets and gold-flakes.f The British Museum, amongst
Ch. 2: Adamas, Diamond Page of 377 Ch. 2: Adamas, Diamond
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