EXTRACT FROM TERVERNIEr’s VOYAGES.

245

or beginning of February, from the town of Soumelpour, as alfo from another, whichis twenty coffes above on the fame river, and fome fmall villages on the plain, there if-fue about eight thoufand perfons of both fexes and all ages capable of labour. Thofe■who are expert, know by the appearance of the fand whether there are any diamonds init, and when they fee amongft it fmall ftones which very much refemble what we callthunder ftones, they begin to fearch the river at the Town of Soumelpour, and alwaysin returning go up as far as the mountains from whence it iffues, which are about fiftycoffes diftant from the town. At thofe places where they think there are diamonds,they examine the fand in the following manner.

Firft they furround it with ftakes, facines, and earth, as is done in building the archof a bridge, to drain off the water and leave the place dry, then they draw out thefand, yet not digging more than two feet deep. All this fand is carried and fpread ina large place prepared on the bank of the river and encoinpaffed with a fmall wall ofabout a foot and a half high, at the foot of which holes are made, and when they havebrought as much fand into this place as they think proper, they throw water on it toWaffi it, after which, the fame method is purfued as at the Coulour mine.

From this river all the fine ftones are produced, which are called native, but it isfeldom that they find a large ftone. Several years have elapfed fince any of thefe ftonesnave been feen in Europe , on which account many dealers have thought the mine wasexhaufted, which is not the cafe, though for a long time nothing has been drawn fromthis river on account of the wars.

I have fpoken elfewhere of another diamond mine in the province of Carnatica,■which Mirgimola, general of the army and prime minifter to the King of Golconda,commanded to be {hut up, not allowing it to be worked any more, becaufe the ftonesfound in this mine, or rather in the fix mines, (for there are fix clofe to one another,)Were all black or yellow, neither of them producing a clear ftone.

_ Laftly, in the illand of Borneo , which is the largeft illand in the world, there is anver called Succadan, whole fand produces fine ftones, having the fame hardnefsas thofe of the river Gouel, or the above mines before mentioned. General Vandhneone day fent me fix from Batavia to Surat , weighing from 3 to 4 carats each, whichhe thought were not fo hard as thofe found in other mines, and had therefore fent themto me to know the truth, but in this he' was miftaken, fince there is no difference be-tween them. When I was at Batavia, one of the heads of the company {hewedme a native ftone weighing 25! carats, quite perfect, found in this river Succadan, butAccording to the price he told me it had coft him, he had paid 50 per cent, more than IWould have given,.although it is true I have always heard thefe ftones mentioned asbeing very dear. The principal reafon which prevented me from going to this river °f Borneo , is that the Queen of the illand not allowing ftrangers to export the dia-monds, there is great difficulty in getting them away, and the few wffiich thev contrivem bring fecretly, are fold at Batavia. Here, doubtlefs, it will be afked why I men-tion the Queen of Borneo only, and not the King. The caufe is, that in this king-dom women alone reign, men not being allowed, by reafon that the people are ex-tremely fearful of not having a legitimate heir to the throne, and as the hulband cannotbe certain that the children his wife brings him are really his, while the wife on thecontrary, is always certain as to her own children, they like better to have a woman rule,°ver them,, on whom they confer the title of Queen, while her hulband being her fub-^^■5 has no more power than what {he choofes to invelt him with.

CHAP,