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The Diamond 27
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between
the Mahanadi and Godavari rivers, and includes Sambalpur and Waigarh
eighty miles south-east of Nagpur, as well as portions of Chutia Nagpur
province. Bundelkhand, Central India, contains the third region, the
principal field being near the city of Panna. The product of all the
mines of India has decreased until now it is but a small part of the
world's
supply-
Borneo's
fields produce annually about three thousand carats. The basin of the
Kapceas River, on the western slope of the Ratoos Mountain, near the
town of Pontianak, is the principal locality.
In
1728 diamonds were discovered in Brazil. They were found by gold miners
in river sands, but the finders did not identify the curious crystals
sometimes found in their pans when washing the sand for gold-dust and
scales. It is related that a monk who had seen diamonds mined in India
recognised the characteristics of the Brazilian stones. No sooner had
the news of the valuable discovery reached the Portuguese than the King
of Portugal seized for the Crown the lands known or thought likely to
be dia-mondiferous. Near Diamantina, in Minas Ge-raes, the diamonds are obtained from both river
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