The Republican journal., 1892-08-18

fore many of the examiners became small
farmers, and unfortunately for rapid
progress), the Sac Francisco prairie is so
well adapted to agricultural purposes that
the lazy Caboclos can supply all their
simple wants by working two OF three
months out of the twelve.
Though diamond hunting was practical
ly at an end in this locality as long ago as
1871, desultory search is still kept up,
and with very fair returns, it seems to me,
considering the methods employed. l
have visited number of small shops and
the bamboo huts of Caboclo citizens, os-
tensibly to buy diamonds; and in every
case little stem of bamboo was produced,
hollow like bottle, with twisted leaf
stuck in the end for a cork, out of which
the master of the house ratified a number
of small diamonds into the palm of his
hand. Sometimes the stones were not
diamonds at all, only pretty bits of quartz,
and always the owners wanted more for
each tiny gem than would be asked for
much larger and better cut diamonds in
Paris, London or New York Though of
the purest water, Brazilian diamonds are
uniformly SMALL as compared with those
Of India. TO he sure 4 very few large ones
have been found notably the Estella do
Sui ''Star of the South, which figured at
the Paris exposition in 1876 as Il rival to
the celebrated koh-i-nor, ('Mountain of
| Lightly which had produced such a SEN
sation at the first London exhibition a
stones which now blaze in the crown of
Portugal-one weighing PSI carats, an
| other an ounce troy, and the third l2O ca
rats-but these are rare exceptions.
| went to visit the principal mine, if
such it can be called from which the
| greatest number of stones in this locality
has been taken. 1t is about three miles
| from the village and looks like a common
| gravel pit, dug out of the side OF a hill.
Presently, however, when the eye had
| time to take in the details and surround
ngs, one recognized that it had been, and
| was still, something more. Here and
there on the level bottom Of the pit were
| little heaps of unwashed gravel, and out
side were larger mounds of white, wash
| ed-out looking dirt, the refuse OF the
| washings On one side was rude con
duit made out of split and followed
| palms, which brought little stream from
the river down to a dilapidated trough at
| the entrance of the pit. The diggings
showed why the workings did not pan
out any longer as of yore. 1t seems that
the diamond bearing strata, lying in vari
| Gus thin beds of gravel, runs nearly on a
| level, straight into the sloping hillside ;
consequently with every yard that has
been worked, the strata lay deeper and
deeper below uhc surface. Therefore if,
AS il appears the diamonds exist in thin,
horizontal layers Of gravel, one above an
other, TO What depth nobody lnows-sep-
arated by other layers Of gravel nj diff
lercnt composition, it is reasonable to be
lieve that proper machinery in Intelligent
hands would uncarth greater quantity
OF precious stones chan has ever yet been
seen in Brazil.
! From Swiss miner, who lately return
ed to Bonn Jesus from a diamond hunting
expedition along the distant southwestern
branches Of the Rio Sac Francisco, ! have
gained much important information. He
brought over the result Of his eighteen
diamonds, perhaps two quarts i'll all,
which he estimates to be worth some
where in the neighborhood OF 5000, 600,
quite sufficient, he says to set him up for
life in Fatherland. This successful gen
tleman tells us that though the first dia-
monds We're discovered in Bahia province,
the provinces of Malta Crosse and Minas
Geraes have subsequently yielded much
greater and richer returns. In all the
diamond districts the geological formation
| is about the same, ''formacao dimante'
| UClllN llC udlllC SlNCll III ID W lllC
rious minerals that are found accompany
ing diamonds, whether they exist in the
| beds OF shores of rivers, or desert plains
or high up among the hills There are a
few places, such as the Sierra da Sac An
tonic and the Mato do Corda, where dia-
monds have been found imbedded in
rocks, away up i'll the mountains; and the
very richest formation yet known--a hard
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES lies upon beds of
marble The names which the natives
give to the different substances do not al
ways Indicate similar materials For ex-
ample, what is known as ismirl is always
found at the bottom Of the gold washer
pan, mixed with the grains Of gold; it is
also seen in urferous and diamondifer-
Gus sand banks, in the form Of variously-
shaped, black, crystalized grains, and
may be either small pieces of tourmaline,
OF pure iron, OF strips of iron stone tan
talate, OF iron pyrites, OF platina, pala-
diam OF iridium. The various other con
stituents of the formation are known as
coscalho, meaning ferruginous clay, quartz