The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-29

clay. or rock, which the BraSilians call '.cascalho." Most of the information concerning the diamond mines of Brazil and the methods employed there have been obtained by Sir Richard Bur ton, the explorer. tie saw the possi- bilities of the mines. observed tne archaic methods of the miners and suggested to fris hosts, the mine-owners that machinery would increase the output one hundredfoid. Instead ot being thankful for the suggestion. Sir Richards hosts considered that they had been insulted by the insinuation the the methods of their great-great- grandfathers were obsolete. They even carried their reseT.ment to the point of refusing further hospitality to the visitor. In writing or this Sir Richard Burton said:
 T found in the most civilized dia- mond disgins of Minas Geraes no trace of machinery. no knowledge of that simplest of all contrivances. a tackle. The negro was absolutely the only in- pIement used, and he carried from the digging place to the washers, each trip about as much diamondiferous earth as a school buy would stun into his pockets. Two buckets would actually have done the work of hundred such men,"
 It has been suggested that the dia- mond fields of Brazil were practically exhausted, and 1t has also been said that no real deposit of diamond bear ing earth existed in Brazil: that the gems found resembled the glacier-borne stones sometimes found in the United States. From both these ideas Sir Richard Burton dissents. He says:
 "So far from the diamonds being ex- hausted, I believe that the true ex- ploitation of precious lithology has stiii to begin. l think the diamond ter ritory will be found to extend eighty miles along the Sierra do Espinhaco.
 The way in which diamonds are ob- tained from Brazilian mines at present has been referred to is primitive. Just how primitive 1t is can be best appre- method adopted.
 A place having been selected men are put to work to dig. Two feet below the surface-if diamonds are likely-a layer of hard, yellow clay is found. In this yellow clay the diamonds are found. This material is dug out and carried in small baskets to a place where a heap of 1t is made. Water is poured on the heap to help break uI the clay. In a day or two the result ing yellow mud is subjected to one of two processes. Either it is slowly banned out by washing. after the methods adopted in gold placer mines or the mud is transported to a line of troughs built like those used by miners in Alaska. The diamonds, being a little heavier than common rocks, are supposed to sink to the bottom, thence to he removed. Probably 40 per cenG of the diamonds are lost bySeither pro- cess. It is said. too, that the number of diamonds lost by the thefts of the negro workers is discouraging.
 The foregoing gives some idea of the revolution in method which will be ee- fected by the introduction of electrical machinery and American methods. It is hoped by those interested that Brazil is at last awakening to her possibili- ties. This hope is encouraged by the fact that in June an industrial exposi- ton will be opened at Bello Horizonte, the capital of the Minas district. Americans have been invited to send exhibits to this exposition and they are responding principally with min ing machinery.