The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-05-14


At present the most of the diamonds
of this region are dug by native divers
who scoop up the gravel in sacks and
then carry It off to the shore. This is
very COSTLY. The best stones have long
since been taken out of tho low places
Of the river. and 1t is only during the
dry season that any diving can be done.
At such times the divers take a place
Where the current is not too rapid, and
drive a pole down into the center Of the
river. They then throw out to the pole
and one Of them who is naked dives to
the bottom. He takes a sack with him,
which Is kept open by a ring sewed in
the top. ! There Is a lot Of mud or silt
on top of the gravel. The man has to
scrape this off, and then fill his sack
with the gravel, removing all he can
down to the clay. AS soon as the sack
is full he signals to the man in the
canoe above and Is pulled up by a rope,
aiding himself with the pole.
After two or. three bags have been
emptied into the canoe it is rowed to the
shore and the gravel is dumped out far
enough away to prevent any loss by the
sudden rise of the river. More gravel
is~taken outs from day to day during
the dry season and when the rains be-
gin the stuff is all, washed over for car
bons and diamonds
The divers are very expert. Some OF
them can stay under the water for more
than minute, but the labor is such that
they cannot get out all the gravel nor
work fast. BY machinery the gravel can
all be removed and the deep parts of the
river which have never been worked can
be mined
DIAMOND FIELDS OF BRAZIL.
Bahia is one of the chief diamond mar
kets of Brazil It IS also the chief mar
ket for carbons, and it is the best place
In. Brazil to- elearn about the diamond
trade. Brazil was for many years the
chief diamond country of the world. It
was in 1927, in the province of Minas
Geraes, that diamonds were first discov-
cred. They were being used there by
the negro slaves as counters in playing
cards. Later on mines were discovered
in Bahia and for time Bahia produced
some of the best stones
For years something Hike million dol
lars worth of stones were annually pro-
dueed ins Brazil and between LIP and 1918
something like 100000: tearats-weight Of
diamends5Mere exported The most of the
stones. We're SMALL :. rarely exceeding TWEEN
ty carats, although, the Star Of the
South, discovered. in; 1857 Weighed be-
fore cutting 254 cafats. When the South
+ African diamond fields We're discovered,
in 1867, the Brazilian mines dropped into
insignifcance.i AT present they do not
compare with the African mines. Still
diamonds are being taken out every year,
and with modern machinery TO one can
| tell what may be found. -.
| $4,000 FOR A BLACK STONE.
There is, believe, more money now in
carbons than in diamonds. Cartoons are
| impure diamonds of black CT brown
color. They are about as harG as a dia-
mond, but more porous. They are used
| to make fine boring machines and for
| polishing hard substances. They are
| found in all sizes from little ones as big
as grain of sand to some which will
| weigh hundreds Of earats. A carat is a
weight so small that it takes more than
| $50 of them totmake' an ounce. Not long
| ago carbons were selling for $20 a carat
| and one recently found was so large that
! it brought $25, 900. This weighed l am
| told, 5000 carats. 1t was sold 10 Bahia
| and sent off to Europe. Another one dis
| covered more recently weighed y75 carats
| II was sold in Paris for 10000 francs
| These large stones have to be broken
| This always involves great loss, as they
have no line Of fracture, SD that in pro-
portion to weight the smaller carbons
are more valuable.
Mining diamonds and cartoons is like
gambling. Sometimes many bushels of
gravel are washed over before stone is
found, and often a man may wash for a
whole season ana not find more than two
OF three. The washing is chiefly done by
negroes, who use wooden bowls, looking
f,,11x
wash it. The divers, as a rule, do their
work naked, although one American pro-
| prietor has recently imported diving suits
| for his men. In some places the diamonds
are found in the gravel near the river
| and are washed down by hydraulic
| means.
GOLD MINES OF BRAZIL
| We think of Brazil more az a land of
coffee and rubber than gold, silver or
| iron. Parts of the country are full of
metals. This state of Bahia, where 1
! now am, has gold mines, and there are
rich mines of manganese near here await
| ing some one to develop them. In Minas
| Geraes there is a gold mine which has
| been worked for more than fifty years.
| There are rich gold diggings i'll Matte
| Crosse and gold washing goes on on many
of the tributaries of the Amazon
| Out Of the Ouro do Moro dc Fogo mines
| of Minas Gereas about 10000 pounds of
| gold were taken before the independence
| Of Brazil, and there is reason to believe
| that there is a vast amount left. The
mines have never been sunken more than
| seventy-five feet, on account of the wa
| ter. This could easily be pumped out,
and, if done, would probably result in
| great profit.
| The gold mine I spoke of as having
been worked for fifty years is the Moro
! Velho. 1t is one OF the most important
in Brazil, and sis managed after modern
methods. 1t takes out about 200 tons of
! ore day, using 100 California pistons 1t
| has Ave great stamping mills, and 1t re-
| duces the gold to bars right at the spot
where 1t is taken from the mines. The
| mines are far back In the country, and
| the gold outputs sent to the railroad on
| carts. There are no soldiers with it. and
| 1t is evidence of the safety of property
in Brazil that SO far none of the trains
| have been robbed. The gold bars each
about one-half per cent silver and are
| each worth about $1,000
| OF late considerable interest has arisen
/ as to gold mines north Of the Amazon
In the corner Of Brazil next to French
| Guiana there isBa territory which Is said
| to be rich in gold. About $1,000 900 was
| taken out of the mines in one year. and
at present theFe are many Frenchmen
mining gold in Fthat section. The coun-
try Is wilderness, without any govern
ment but that of the gun and the revol-
yer. The climate IS bad, and those who
go there often have feyers.
| SECOND CITY OF BRAZIL.
+ find Bahia interesting. It has about
! 200,0 600 people, and is. the second city III
size in Brazil. It was for 200 years the