Sec. II, Ch. 4: The Borneo Diamond

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	Borneo Diamonds. 105

	Of late years the Diamond-industry of Borneo has suffered a serious decline. This is due partly to the fact that the superficial deposits have been mostly worked out, and the working of the drifts below is expensive and troublesome: the rulers, too, do but little to encourage Diamond working, as they claim all the large stones for themselves, and exact a royalty on the small ones. But the chief cause of the depression is, no doubt, traceable to the influx of Diamonds from South Africa, and consequent depreciation in the value of the Borneo stones. If, however the deeper Diamond-drifts, which have as yet been scarcely touched, were systematically worked on a large scale by Europeans, with scientific appliances, there seems reason to believe that the Diamond industry of Borneo might be successfully and profitably revived. It is very notable that Borneo has produced more " fancy stones," or beautifully coloured Diamonds of the rarer tint, such as red, green, and blue, than any other known country, and what is still more curious a smaller number of pale yellow and off-coloured stones.

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