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Sec. II, Ch. 7: The Indian Diamond

Sec. II, Ch. 7: The Indian Diamond Page of 366 Sec. II, Ch. 7: The Indian Diamond Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
Indian Diamonds.
12.7
The largest and most celebrated found in this mine was said to be the " Great Mogul." In its rough state it weighed, according to Tavernier, 787-1/2 carats, but was reduced by Hortensio Borgio, in cutting to 279-9/16 carats.
Tavernier also gives an account of the Diamond-mining operations at Coulour, and relates how a mine was discovered by a countryman, who, digging to sow some millet, found a pointed stone weighing about twenty-five carats. Not knowing what it was, he took it to Golconda, where he showed it to a trader in Diamonds, who recog­nizing its value, enquired as to the locality where it was found. The report of a Diamond mine made a great sensation in the country, and the influential men of the town caused the ground to be worked. They were well rewarded for their trouble by the discovery of large stones, averaging from ten to forty carats each, and sometimes even larger.
Within a few years of Tavernier's visit to the Diamond Mines, the district must have been visited by an unknown European (perhaps as Ball suggested, Mr. Cholmley, who for some years purchased Diamonds for the East India Company) by whom a paper was sent to the Royal Society, and published in 1677, only one year after the appearance of Tavernier's first edition. In this paper the writer men­tions no fewer than 23 Diamond Mines in the kingdom of Golconda, and 15 in the kingdom of Bijapur, or Visapur.
The Mallivully Diamond Mines, between six and seven hours' journey W.S.W. of Ellora, were visited by Heyne in 1795. The plain, on which the villages round about Malli­vully lie, is on all sides surrounded by granite rock. The average depth of the alluvium in which the Diamonds are found is twenty feet. This alluvial deposit extends along the banks of the Kistna for the distance of about two or three hours' walk.
Sec. II, Ch. 7: The Indian Diamond Page of 366 Sec. II, Ch. 7: The Indian Diamond
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