Evening star., 1928-05-20
Diamonds Of Brazilian Jungle Lure Thousands Dare Pers

the railhead. along trails that are mere
ruts. Streams are crossed on bridges
that are nothing more than two logs
cut to fit the wheels.
Turk, Armenian. Swiss, German,
Spaniard, Portuguese, Dutch and Bel
gian-the buyers are a rough, thick
skinned cosmopolitan crew. They wear
broad Sonbreros, checked shirts and
big boots. Rifles rest on their knees as
they ride, and revolvers are conspicuous
in their hand-tooled leather belts. Over
the right shoulder Is slung a leather
pouch, or capunga, which gives the
diamond buyers their name Of capun-
gueiros.
1t Is this struggling army Of garim-
peiros and capungueiros that has con-
centrated at Lageado along the shore Of
the Araguaya.
Lageado-the boom town Of the
jungle, scene Of what may turn out to
be Brazils greatest diamond rush-is the
story of Cassununga all over again,
though on far grander and more
amazing scale. Two years ago Cassu-
nunga had its day-tWo years ago Cas-
sununga was the scene Of another
tropical diamond rush. was there just
, as the rush was getting under way. and
the scenes that I saw there then are
CASSUNUNGA was barely beginning
~ to take shape when rode into town
on muleback. Scattered irregularly over
| a grass-grown clearing were a few half
| finished huts. Only one large structure
had been finished-the dance hall. A
| few diamond buyers were gathered
there, but the rest Of the town was de-
serted.
Just another exaggerated boom story.
I thought TO myself, but that was be-
| fore I had walked over TO the bluff
above the river. There, below me, the
entire population Of the new jungle me-
| tropolis was working feyerisnly-on the
beaches and far out in the water-hunt-
| ing diamonds A rich strike had been
| made and every diamond digger was
out to get his share as quickly as he
could.
For in the diamond field it Is first
| come, first served. The river courses
| and the land for about miles on
| each side are government property.
| Nobody can stake an exclusive claim,
but any garimpeiro can dig anywhere
he chooses. There is, however, a tacit
| code Of the diggings, universally re-
| spected, which prevents one man from
1 OuSt&4AS 4AOIII AlUAS NLl1I4A
| he is working. But let its possessor
leave it for moment, and the hole
becomes the property Of the first to
| reach it.
I was particularly impressed, as I
watched them, with their adherence to
the code Of the diggings-which is the
| more amazing because outside Of work.
| ing hours the garimpeiros are as wild,
ruthless and quick shooting crew as
| can be found on any frontier.
Some OF them were scooping up SHOW
elfuls Of gravel. or cascalho. from pits
along part Of the river bed from which
the water had receded. But most OF
them were waist deep in water. Here
| and there knots of diggers were much
thicker than anywhere else-it was evi-
dent that these were the spots where
recent lucky finds had been made, and
the other diggers had gathered about
as closely as their code permitted.
Scooping up the gravel in shoTels,
the garinpeiros put it in shallow wood
| en- bowls about 3 feet in diameter. Rest
| ing the bowls on the water, they rotated
| them swiftly so that the worthless cas-
calho worked itself to the outer rim,
whence deft fingers tipped it back into
| the river. Whatever diamonds there
were remained in the center of the bowl
-irTegular-Shaped, cloudy -colored, un-
interesting looking little stones, some
times with a greeniSh-hlue coating that
must be burned of before they are cut.
| While I watched an excited figure
| CONTINUED on Seventh Page)