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MINERAL RESOURCES, 1918—PART II.
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A large diamond, free from flaws, was picked up by a native in September, 1917, on the Dutoitspan mine dump at Kimberley, The stone weighs 442-1/4 carats and is a record stone for this mine Although slightly smaller than the large diamond of 503-1/4 carats discovered in the De Beers mine in 1896, the stone picked up recently is the most valuable diamond ever found at Kimberley in the mines of the De Beers Consolidated Mines Co.
It is said that there are not enough new diamonds in the world to supply the unprecedented increased demand from nearly all coun-tries in the last few months. The shortage is due to the four and a half years of war, during which mining operations were completely suspended for a period of a year and a half and were resumed on a greatly reduced scale. The diamond dealers in the United States have in the meantime been replenishing their stocks from the accu-mulated surplus that had been mined prior to the war.
The competition which formerly existed in the world's diamond market has completely disappeared because of Germany's loss of German Southwest Africa, the output of which was large enough to be a factor in the market. The former German possession is now held by the British. With this competition eliminated, it is pointed out by leading American diamond dealers, 95 per cent of the world's production of diamonds will be under control of the De Beers Con-solidated Mines Co. and its selling agents.
Holland and Belgium did most of the diamond cutting before the war, France and England cutting smaller quantities. The industry has been practically suspended in Belgium, has increased in Holland, and remains about the same in France and England.
It is estimated that about half of the mined diamonds of the world are owned in the United States and that their value exceeds a billion dollars.
AGATE AND AMETHYST IN TJRTJGTJAY.
Agates and amethysts are found in the Departments of Tacuarembo, Paysandu, Salto, and Artigas, in the northwestern part of Uruguay Agate is abundant in many curious and beautiful forms and in a
g reat variety of colors. Amethyst occurs in geodes, which are col-lected in the fields at a nominal cost, taken on mule-back or in carta! to the nearest railway station, shipped from there in barrels to Salto, and thence by river boat to Montevideo. The finest amethysts, of a deep violet color, equal to the best European material, come from Artigas, near the Brazilian border.
Little exact information as to the output of amethyst is available. In 1909, which was a normal year, exports are estimated to have beenj between 13,000 and 15,000 pounds. Practically the entire output on rough amethyst and agate was formerly exported to Germany to be cut at Idar and Oberstein. The value of rough amethyst varied greatly according to purity and color, ranging from 10 centimos (10.34 cents) to 12 pesos ($12.41) per kilo (2.2 pounds), and except tionally as high as 40 pesos ($41.36) per kilo has been paid. The output since 1914 has been very small and irregular, owing in part to the depletion of the supply of stones of good quality.
The Morgan Gem Hall of the American Museum of Natural History, New York City, has recently acquired a beautiful statuette, 8 inches high, of a woman dancing, carved out of an unusually perfect block of translucent natural sapphirine (blue quartz) from Uruguay.
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