Portuguese
of Brazil, however, effectually turned the tables by shipping their
diamonds to India, where they were sold as Indian stones at the market
price. The height of the Brazilian mines appears to have been reached
about the years 1861 to 1867. During that period there were shipped
from Diamantina about ten million dollars' worth of rough diamonds. In
comparing the mining in Brazil and India to that in South Africa, it
will be noted that, not only does the diamond mining in South Africa
stand on a much higher level, in that the mines are worked by the most
up-to-date appliances and machinery, but also that the men employed in
the mines are very carefully watched to prevent theft. These employees,
mostly natives, — many thousands of the Zulu and other warlike tribes
being included, — are all required to sign an agreement to remain
three months or more in the employ of the company. After signing this
they are carefully examined, first, to see that there is no
contaminating disease among them, and they are also thoroughly
searched, not being allowed to take with them clothing in which
diamonds could be easily secreted, — shoes, for instance, in the heels
of which diamonds could be concealed. They are then admitted into the
