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

uuo5ileI Oedetu tue otteDu0n OF tue tFaQe
diverted to the Cape stones, which were
brought 70 market by ell kinds of holders,
and SO fascinated the Amsterdam lapida-
ries that for long time they would cut
none other. The Brazilian market went
down, and down, and
HAS NEVER REcovsRED iTsEt.f.
I'rhe Cape yield Of large stuncs," says Mr.
Etfeetef, "elihanced the difficulties of In.
iiuencing the Amsterdam lapidaries.-
They, finding super-abundance, refused
70 cut small ones, and these Brazil furn-
iyhed in every parcel with which the
merchant supplied tho market. The
merchants Of Brazil had therefore TO ex-
Glide al sinaii stones, and contrive 70
compose their parcels 80 as to enter into
competition with Caps gems. They have
not succeeded yet, not because in beauty
and quality the Brazilian diamonds had
deteriorated, but because of the exor5i-
tant prices at which they had been offered
for sale. The future appears decidedly
unpropitious for the importation of Bra
Gillian diamonds, SO long as the prices of
diamonds GENERALLY remain at their pres
ent level. A very considerable rise would
alone produce 3 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 lS2 carats, aud is
crowned with wreath of flowers and led
in procession to the manager. Itis 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 AUSTRAL1 lN DIAMOND
FIELDS
are in New South Ws,es-iiscovered
within three years-the gems existing in
Victoria and South Australia being not
remarkable for quality or quantity; but
MIR. Streeter is convinced that great
things are in the future Cor Australia,
when the Colonial continent shall be
scientifically ransacked for these mystic
rious and beautiful formations of the
immeasurable past: He believcsthat in
the Australian Alps the metrix 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 prophesics that anoth.
Ger diamond-field will bel found, either on
the Palmer river or its aff'iionts, where
some very remarkable and rich gold
mines have Lately been recovered; or on
the Gilbert river and its affluents. ard in
the country extending to the Gulf of
Carpentaria-that pitiless country, which
has witnessed so much heroic effort and
terrible suffering & sry7Q iIs i III
The Indian Princes and mobiles Irr are
greedy of diamonds beyond all people,
and there is but one country il the world
ia which any product of nature is held
more precious than this wonderful COM
bustible gem, whose natur,, indeed, we
know, but whose genesis is still o moot
question for ecience. The country is
Burmah, the land Of the White Ele-
phant, where
THE FINEST RUBIEs
sheltered IN the es.tE's bEsas. a-s found
and are rated far above diamonds. AS
the King of Siam prizes his cats, SO the
King Of BuFmah prizes the rubies os his
country, jealousy prohibiting the export
OF them, SO that the beautiful aIuminous
stones-which glow with clearer and
richer color when they are exposed to
| fire in which the diamond would be con-
symed and d.sappear-cap 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 sala of
the two magnificent rubies which were
brought, ito Engiand, in ,l876--tiSe finest
ever known in Europe-caused such ex-
element that o military guard had to
escort the persons conveying the package
to the ship. Five days journey southe AT
of Ava lies the home sof( thof 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 metchless ruby.
lired. L Next to these rank the rubies which
are found in the Tartar vilds 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 ono. .specinien
of
! ff BED pIAAYfP, II TS ~ u
which is Ike gem OF ire, ada basset
from his hands into the possession of 9
great connoisseur last year. 'sTiie RED
diamond" wrote Sir Thomas Nichols In
1861, "is priced according to the glorious
beauty of its perfection. It feeds your
eyes with mitch plessurei of behoiding
and hence are discovered TO us the eX
cellcnce of super-celestial things"
There is something fascinating TO Che
Imagination In the experiments which
have been tried on diamonds in order x
wrest the secret of their nature and theil
formation from them. One cannot reat
without q feeling of suspense how. -tht
Academia dc Cimento, in the year 1894
| in the focus of great Burning glass, ans
watched it, dismayed, as it cracked, CO
ruscated, ard disappeared; aud how th,
l,4x.>A.;...e i:s45 f:es..s.! - s. 90
I4avoisier (he whom F01quier Tinvilli
declared to be unnecessary to the repub
lic) proved that diamonds burn Just tn,
same same as. cemraon~coal,-if, f,oHygenrbe,,no
shut out, because they gre, pure carbon
and combine with }oxygen. iHosN silen
and how still 0nagw6nld hass5 stood AZ.
watch Cayton de- Meryeau at his work
when he 4r.vx
/ CONSUMED A DIAMOHD IN oXYGENt
| by means of the burning-glass: "Firsi
he saw that ON tho coTHer Of the dinmon,
which was in che exact focus of the len