254 A Book of Precious Stones
with,
a score of apprentices, and organised diamond-cutting into a
full-fledged trade. The foundations being thus laid, the trade
flourished until the last half of the nineteenth century, when it
apparently was obliterated as one of the effects of war, chiefly the
Civil War in the United State and the Franco-Prussian War in Europe.
When the first diamond mines were discovered in 1870 in South Africa,
the demand for diamonds rose, and diamond cutters were once more
enlisted in the service of the Dutch, English, and French importers,
and almost any one who wished was given an opportunity to learn the
trade, which had been so long asleep. The trade in diamonds then
rapidly developed annually; improved steam navigation and other
scientific progress provided better facilities for exporting and
importing gems, and there were established many new factories for
cutting and polishing diamonds in the city of Amsterdam, until the
entire industry centred in Holland's capital. Amsterdam only secured
the lead as the Diamond City after a keen commercial and industrial
rivalry with Antwerp, a contest that was waged, with varying fortunes,
for many years. The workmanship of the diamond cutters and polishers of
the Amsterdam factories is first
