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Sec. II, Ch. 5: The Brazilian Diamond

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CHAPTER V.
 
 

 
 
BRAZILIAN DIAMONDS.
 
 

 
 
Ν washing the sands of some of the Brazilian rivers, for sake of the gold which, they con­tained, the natives in the early part of the last century occasionally lighted upon little hard stones of pecular shape, which they regarded as of no value ; and therefore either threw them away, or used them as counters in card-playing. It was not until 1727, that Bernardo da Fonseca Lobo, an inhabitant of Serra do Frio in the gold district of Minas-Geräes, accidentally discovered the true nature of these stones. He had seen rough Diamonds in India, and the likeness to these was so striking that he took a number to Portugal for sale, and thus drew general observation towards the new Diamond mines. Such at least is the story told of the discovery of the "Brazilian Diamond fields".
The European merchants, who up to that time had obtained their Diamonds from India, were frightened lest this discovery should cause a fall in the. price of the gems in their possession. They consequently spread the report that the Brazilian Diamonds were only the refuse of the Indian stones, forwarded to Goa, and then to Brazil, just as when the South African Diamond fields were discovered, it was said that they yielded only yellow stones, of little or no value.
 
 

 
     
Sec. II, Ch. 4: The Borneo Diamond Page of 366 Sec. II, Ch. 5: The Brazilian Diamond
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