Page:A treatise on diamonds and precious stones including their history Natural and commercial.djvu/74

 taken. They are never found with any crust upon them, but their exterior being often rough, they have been many times improperly so represented ,

after continuing the examination for three or four days nothing of the kind was found, the place would be abandoned, without having occasioned five shillings' expense. If any of the precious gems presented themselves; methods would be taken to wash the gravel of the rivulets, and the banks, to the very rocks, on an extensive scale. It was by the above mentioned process, that the adventurous Portugueze, after penetrating into the interior, where they had to contend with the Anthropophagi, discovered their diamond and gold mines.