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Sec. II, Ch. 5: The Brazilian Diamond

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Brazilian Diamonds.                          115
to be increasing; but in 1852 it was evidently on the wane. The estimated value of Brazilian Diamonds from 1861 to 1867, the date of the discovery of the South African Diamonds, was about £1,888,000.
Some very interesting information was given by the German traveller, Herr von Tschudi, who visited the city of Diamantina, in February, 1858. He observes: "The pivot on which Diamantina turns is Diamonds. I was present during the unexampled commercial crisis which extended from town to town, and country to country, with such disastrous consequences, and which fell with the weight of an avalanche on the inhabitants of Diamantina. All business was stopped, and Diamonds fell to one-half the price they reached only the year before."
The panic described by Von Tschudi was severe, but it is very doubtful whether any panic was ever equal in extent and importance to that caused by the discovery of the riches in South Africa, which produced a revolution in the Diamond market.
No country was more incredulous about the prodigious yields of the South African mines than Brazil, and this perversity made the loss disastrous to the Brazilian merchants, as they refused to receive the warnings which were sent them in perfect good faith. The favour bestowed on the Cape Diamonds, and the great margin of profit which they yielded, resulted in the Brazilian Diamonds being more and more neglected ; and as the difficulties were augmented by the predilection of Amsterdam workmen for the new stones, a depreciation followed greater than that which the prices obtained for Cape stones justified.
The Cape yield of large stones led to the general rejection of the small, such as were furnished by the Brazil merchants in every parcel which they supplied to the
Sec. II, Ch. 5: The Brazilian Diamond Page of 366 Sec. II, Ch. 5: The Brazilian Diamond
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