The Sun. — 1845-11-18 (London, England)

DISCOVERY OF A NEW DIAMOND  MINE IN BRAZIL. (From the Journal des Debats.) We heve received from Rio de Janeiro a letter, which gives some curious details relative to the working of a new diamond mine recently discovered in Brazil. For some months past the communications and commercial intercourse witb the province of Bahia have been extraordinarily brisk. A large number of inhabitants, speculatArs, adventurers, and even sugar planters, are emigrating with their slaves to the province of Bahia, where is situate an immense diamond mine, the produce of which is incredible. It was discovered in October, 1844, by a slave, who in 20 days had gathered 700 carats of diamonds, and carried them a considerable distance for sale. Arrested and imprisoned, the slave obstinately refused to disclose the locus in quo. They therefore let him loose, and put a number of intelligent Indians upon his " trail. ' The latter pursued him for several days, and found him working for the extraction of the diamonds not far from Caxoeira, the second city of Bahia. Investigations were then made on a large scale along a chain of mountains called Sincura, which have given the name to this mine, and on the banks of the river Paraguassu, which falls into the bay of Bahia. The first persons who established themselves at the mine of Sincura were chiefly convicts and murderers. They made known their presence by fires and assassinations. The difficulty of subsisting in the country, and the danger to which those were exposed who proceeded thither to exchange diamonds for the paper-money of Brazil ,prevented honourable merchants from entering into the trade. By degrees, however, when the population had become more numerous, a system of police was established by the new colonists, and the mine was then worked upon a much larger and more extensive scale. The population, which only amounted in August, 1844, to 8,000 souls, distributed over three villages, was, at the end of July, upwards of 30,000, and on the increase. The villages at present inhabited and cultivated are seven in number, and are named— Paraguassu, Combucas, Chiquechique, Causu-Boa, Andrahy, Nage, and Lancoe. The .last- named village, which is 20 leagues distant from Paraguassu, contains alone 3,000 families and 20,000 inhabitants. The central point of the diamond trade is Paraguassu, which, although sufficiently peopled, has only at present twelve small houses of brick. Almost all the miners go thither on Saturdays and Sundays to sell the stones they have picked up during the week. They receive in exchange different articles of consumption, arms, and apparel, which are brought thither at a great expense from Bahia. The diamonds extracted from Paraguassu are, generally speaking, of a brown colour, and of a very irregular formation. White and light green, almost transparent on their first extraction from the mine, distinguish those of Lancoe. They are of an octahedal form, and are the most in request. It is often requisite to dig three or four metres in order to reach the cascaille or layer of the diamonds. Diamonds are also discovered in the rocky ravines at the bottom of the Paraguessau itself, and the streams which fall into it. The price of these diamonds varies, at Bahia, from 250 to 500 milreis per octave (670 f. to 1,340 f.), according to their fineness and size. The octave is 17i carats; but the Brazilian carat is 7i per cent. less than the French, which makes the Brazilian carat about 67f. to 134 f.