Page:A treatise on diamonds and precious stones including their history Natural and commercial.djvu/96

 an expenditure of perhaps forty or fifty thousand pounds.

a very large property, both in this kingdom and in other countries of Europe, is vested in diamonds, it may be interesting to be informed, that not only the price of these gems has for several years been, upon the whole, gradually rising, but that it is likely to continue on the advance. At the present time, indeed, and for the last few years, there has been a dull sale of Diamonds in England, nor did the coronation occasion a demand worth notice; but on the continent the trade has been steady, and rough diamonds have been constantly rising in price. That this advance will be progressive, may be presumed from the faet, that the best diamond ground now known, the Serro do Frio, in Brazil, has assuredly passed the zenith of its prosperity. I went over the greater part of what is yet reserved,