The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-11-01

before. Ihey refused 70 receive Cne
warning sent in good faith, and in stolid
unbelief beheld the attention Of the trade
diverted to the Cape stones, which were
brought to market by all kinds of holders,
and 80 fascinated the Amsterdam lapida-
ries that for long time they would cut
none other. The Brazilian market went
down, and down, and
HAS NEVER REcovERED 1TsEtf.
"The Cape yield of large stones" says Mr.:
Streeter, "eiihanced the difficulties of in
huencing the Amsterdam lapidaries.-
They, finding super-abundance, refused
TO cut small ones, and these Brazil filrD-
ished in every parcel with which t!
merchant supplied the market. The
merchants of Brazil had therefore to ex-
clude all small stones, and contrive to
compose their parcels so as to enter into
competition with Cape gems. They have
not succeeded yet, not because in beauty
and quality the Brazilian diamonds had
deteriorated, but because of the exorbi-
tant prices at which they had been offered
for sale. The future appears decidedly
unpropitious for the Importation of Bra
zilfan diamonds, so long as the prices of
diamonds generally remain at their pres.
ent level. A very considerable rise would
alone produce resumption of the mines
in the diamond districts of Brazil, where
none the less untold treasures are still
hidden" So is the eclipse of the great
Cuddapah, Kandish and Ellore groups
avenged.
The discipline of the Brazilian diamond
fields is we'll contrived and maintained,
but it must be comical to behold the tab
leau of "honesty rewarded" when lucky
negro finds stone of 182 carats, and is
crowned with wreath of flowers and led
in procession to the manager. tits pleas
ant to know that the triumph has sub
stantial elements also; that the virtuous
digger receives his freedom, new suit of
clothes, and permission to work for wages.
The only
IMPORTANT AUSTRALIAN DIAMOND
FIELDS
are in New South Wales-discovered
within three years-the gems existing in
Victoria and South Australia being not
remarkable for quality or quantity; but
Mr.. Streeter is convinced that great
things are in the future for Australia,
when the Colonial continent shall be
scientifically ransacked for these myste-
rious and beautiful formations of the
-immeasurable past belieyes-that in
the Australian Alps the matrix will be
discovered whence the crystals of pure
carbon already found have been washed,
and that, as the geological formation of
the whole of the New England district
in New South Wales resembles closely
that of the district of the Baggage Mines
in Brazil, it will sooner or later be found
to yield diamonds in paying quantities.
Of Queensland he prophesies that anoth-
ser diamond field will be. found, either on
the Palmer river or its affluents, where
some very remarkable and rich, gold
mines have lately been recovered ) or on
the Gilbert river and its af1uents, and in
the country extending to the Gulf of
Carpentaria- that pitiless country, which
has witnessed so much heroic effort and
Hterribie suffering fy9st N
The Indian Princes and mobiles are
greedy of diamonds beyond all people,
and there is but one country in the world
in which any product of nature is held
more precious than this wonderful COM
bustible gem, whose nature, indeed, we
know, but whose genesis is still moot
question ifor science. The country is
Burmah, the land Of the White Ele-
plant, where;
THE FINEST RUBIEs
sheltered in the earth's breast are found,
and are rated far above diamonds. AS
the King of Siam prizes his cats, so the
King of Burmah prizes the rubies of his
country, jealously prohibiting the export
Of them, so that, the beautiful aluminous
stones-which glow with clearer and
richer color when they are exposed to
fire in which the diamond would be con-
sumed and disappear only be pro-
cured by stealth or favor Of private indi-
viduals. No European has ever been
permitted to see the Kings wonderful
ruby, "the size of pigeons egg, and of
extraordinary quality" and the sale of
the two magnificent rubies which were
brought ito. England, in 1S75-the finest
ever known in Europe caused such ex-
citement that a. military guard had to
escort the persons conveying the package
to the ship. Five days journey southeast
of Ava lies the: Shome of thef blood-red
gems, the jealous earth in which the peo.
pie believe that they ripen becoming from
their original colorlessness, yellow, green,
blue, and, last of all, the matchless ruby
ired. Next to these rank the rubies which
are found in the Tartar wilds of Badaks-
han, and which the people there believe
are always; found in pairs. "When one
of the seekers has discovered one, he will
frequently hide it until its mate is found"
Mr.. Streeter- knows of only one specimen
of
7RED DIAMOND; q
which is like gem Of fire, and passed
from his hands into the possession of q
great connoisseur last year. "The red
diamond" wrote Sir Thomas Nichols in
1861, els priced according to the glorious
beauty of its perfection. 1t feeds your
eyes with much pleasure Of beholding
and hence are discovered to us the ex-
cellence of super-celestial things"
There is something fascinating to the
imagination in the experiments which
have been tried on diamonds in order to
wrest the secret of their nature and thei1
formation from them. One cannot read
without a feeling of suspense how the
Academia de Cimeuto. in the wear 1894
induced <by eosmos LII, ixedsa diamond
in the focus of a great burning glass, and
watched it, dismayed, as it cracked, CO.
ruscated, and disappeared; and how the
experiment was frequently repeated until
Lavoisier (he whom Fouquier Tinville
declared to be unnecessary to the repub'
lic) proved that diamonds burn just the
same as commen~coaE n-oxygen-be-ne'
shut out, because they are, pure carbon
and combine with oxygen. How silent
and how still onegwould have1 stoodot tt
watch Cavton lie, Moryeau at his work