in
the detritus covering the low county, and probably derived from the
sandstones and breccias overlying the gneiss of the neighbouring hills.
Diamonds have been found in the district from time immemorial, and
Tippoo Sultan, when in power claimed all large stones, whilst he levied
a royalty upon small ones. At the present time, the villagers turn out
after heavy rains, and search for Diamonds.
In
1881 a Diamond of very fine quality, though of irregular shape,
weighing in the rough 67-3/8 carats, was found near Wajra Kurar,
probably a little to the north-west of the village. This stone was
purchased by Messrs. P. Orr and Sons, of Madras, and yielded a fine
brilliant called the " Gor-do-Norr," Mr. Gordon Orr being the senior
partner, whilst the name, spelt thus, chimed well with "Koh-i-nur."
It
is said that the " Eugénie" Diamond was found by a poor peasant at
Wajra Karur. He offered the stone to the village blacksmith, in return
for repairing his plough, but the smith thought so little of its value
that he flung the stone away. Afterwards, however, he picked it out of
a heap of rubbish, to which he had consigned it, and sold it for 6,000 rupees to Mr. Arathoon, a merchant in Madras, by whom it was disposed of, for a large sum, to the Emperor Napoleon III.
In the Philosophical Transactions for
1677, there is an interesting paper presented by the Earl Marshal of
England to the Royal Society, in which it is stated that at the
commencement of the seventeenth century a Portuguese gentleman went to
Currure (Wajra Karur), and after much cost and labour obtained a large
Diamond believed ;to have weighed about 434 carats, which he sold at
Goa. The late Prof. Ball suggested that this stone may
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