DIAMONDS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22347, 10 March 1938, Page 3 (Supplement)

DIAMONDS

A diamond is pure carbon, and the most valued of precious stones, though before the art of cutting was perfected diamonds were considered inferior to the ruby and emerald. India was in former times the chief diamond country. At the present lime, South Africa yields the largest quantities, between three and four million metric carats being mined yearly. More than 126,000 men are employed in South Africa in diamond mining. There are .nany rich mines in Brazil and in Australia. Diamonds form the haraesr, known substance and have a high retractive power. The largest diamond ever found was the Cullinan diamond, which was discovered in the Premier diamond mine, near Pretoria, South Africa, in January, 1905. In 1907 it was presented to the King in commemoration of the granting of self-government to the Transvaal; it weighs 3030 carats, and is valued at 15,000,000 sterling. It is three times as large as the largest of: the other big diamonds of histoßy. Other big diamonds were:—Excelsior, found in South Africa, weighed 971 carats (uncut); Great Mogul, found in India, weighed 280 carats (cut): Regent, found in India, weighed 410 carats (uncut), 136 J carats (cut); Orloff, found in India, weighed 900 carats (uncut); Koh-i-noor, found in India, weighed 103 carats (cut).

Excelsior was found by Captain Ed Jorgansen. In its natural state it was valued at £1,000,000, but buyers of such gems are few, eo in 1904 it was cut into nine smaller gems. The Great Mogul weighed 280 carats after being cut, and in ■ize and shape It looked like half

a pullet's egg. Its history Is romantic. It was seen at the Court of Aurungzebe, in 1665, by a French jeweller, and was stolen at the sacking of Delhi, in 1739, and broken up. The largest cut diamond up to the cutting of the Cullinan was the Orloff, which adorned the Tsar of Russia's sceptre. It was stolen from an Indian idol's eye and sold to Catherine of Russia. It now weighs almost 200 carats. The famous Koh-i-noor is an Indian stone, and is the property of the British Royal Family. It weighed nearly 900 carats uncut, but by bad cutting was brought down in weight to 103 carats. Other famous diamonds are the Pitt (136 carats), the Florentine (133 carats), and the Star of the South (124 carats). More than £600,000,000 worth of diamonds exist in the world; more than half belong to Americans. THAT WIND That wind, I used to hear it swelling; With joy divinely deep; You might have seen my hot tears

welling, But rapturo made me weep.

I used to love on winter nights To lie and dream alone Of all the rare and real delights My lonely years had known;

And oh!—above the best—of those That coming time should bear, Like heaven's own glorious stars

they rose, . Still beaming bright and fair. —EMILY BRONTE