The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1869-11-12
THE KING on DIAMONDS.

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II seems as though, after lapse Of
three centuries, Sir Walter Raleigh'ss
dreams of an El Dorado were about
to be realized. '' :, ~"
The other day we published an sc.
count Of marvellous discoveries OF
diamonds in South Africa They
had been found for miles along the
bun Ks Of tho Orange and the Yaai
rivers. They were not only abSunI
dan', but they were, many of them.
of great size. Some were found Of
the dandaloque shape and Of the,
first water, weighing upwards of
eighty carrots; others of the octahe:
dron, or four pointed, that weighed
upwards Of thirty carats and Of the
smaller varieties immense numbers
had been picked up on the surface
OF tn ground. Naturally South
Africa was in ferment. Elephant
tusks were forgotten, and every one
was hunting for precious stones
The infection had even extended to
this country, and DR.. Hall was orga.
nizing a colony to GO diamond hun:
ting. But now come reports from
Australia Of discoveries there which.
far eclipse those in South Africa.
!elegrams have come flying from the
Australian mines to England big
enough to make the diamond mer-
chants hold their breath with aston
ishnens. The gIit,errny stones have
cy'n picked up in sucn quantities
t"a;, =. the Lon'lon Times, in a lead,
'ng artic'. on the subject "the colo.
INST are all dr:a:n:ng Of precious
stones. At every liable" aud il. every;
railway ca' rage the talk is of ;i.e..
'noh's and r"b:es, o'lsls and e.nera.is
pearls and topazc:, and people o! all
ranks arc rushing to the mines. Gen
u'ne diamonds are OH sale by women
and children at every cottage, and,
there can hardly be a mistake, we
should think about the nature OF the
stones.
Ihls is marvellous enough in all
conscience, but this is not half the )
story; the rest of: it smacks of the
Arabian Nights Entertainments and
Sinbad the Sailors adventures in the
great diamond valley to which he
hew on the back of mighty bird.
And this latter and wonderful half
we aust preface with the statement
familiar doubtless to many of our
readers, that the increase in value of
the diamond is vastly greater in prc.
portion thar its Increase in weight.
A stone weighing one carat, for in
stance, might be worth City dollars:
but one weighing five carats would
be worth two thousand. Imagine,
then, the value Of ono as big as a
lemon and weighing tilrec-quarters of
pound. Such one is said to b.
found in Australia. Its discovery
has been tclegraphed to England. It
Was placed in the hands of a trust.
worthy man. He was surrounded,
by astrong Gordon of military. and
was marched in this way from tho
mines to Sydney, where the magnfi.
cent gem was deposited in the mint
lhe stone has not yet been thorough.
" tested. Biologists are a, work
upon 1t now; but if it really proves
to he supposed, its value will lie al
most fabulous. Its weigh, IS 900
caras. The greatest English dia-
nond, that pride Of the British En-.
plre, the Koh-'-:. oor, weighs but 18e
car"ts, and its computed by tho tables
in use, would be hundred milfiona
in gold. But Of course, this value
would in any event be imaginary.
since no purchaser could be found
with hundred millions to spare for
diamond, even if it was as big as a
lemon.