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On the next day, the Condé de Linhares sent for me, and related all the circumstances which had come to his knowledge respecting this famous jewel, adding, in a low tone of voice, that he had his doubts about its proving a genuine diamond. His excellency directed me to attend at his office in a few hours, when letters from himself and the other ministers of the Treasury should be given me, for permission to see this invaluable gem, in order to determine what it really was. Readily accepting a charge of so interesting a nature, I prepared myself, and attended at the hour appointed, when I received the letters, which I presented at the Treasury to an officer in waiting. I was led through several apartments, in which much business seemed to be transacting, to the grand chamber, where presided the treasurer, attended by his secretaries. Having my letters in his hand, he entered into some conversation with me relative to the subject; I was then shown through other grand apartments hung with scarlet and gold, and ornamented with figures as large as life, representing justice holding the balance. In the inner room, to which we were conducted, there were several strong chests with three locks each, the keys of which were kept by three different officers, who were all required to be present at the opening. One of these chests being unlocked, an elegant little cabinet was taken out, from which the treasurer took the gem, and in great form presented it to me. Its value sunk at the first sight, for before I touched it I was convinced that it was a rounded piece of crystal. It was about an inch and a half in diameter. On examining it, I told the governor it was not a diamond; and to convince him, I took a diamond of five or six carats, and with it cut a very deep nick in the stone. This was proof positive; a certificate was accordingly made out, stating, that it was an inferior substance, of little or no value; which I signed. p. 133-140.

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This great affair of state concluded, Mr Mawe obtains leave to visit the diamond mines at Villa Rica; and to these, after the usual miseries of being bitten, and jolted, and ill fed, he at last penetrates. In the neighbourhood of diamonds, and in the midst of an extremely fertile district, it was difficult to obtain the common necessaries of life. Pulse and vegetables were very scarce, grass was extremely difficult to be procured; poultry were 4s. 6d. per couple; milk as dear as in London; and mutton utterly unknown.

When we spoke to the inhabitants' (says Mr Mawe) of the richness of their country, and the quantity of gold with which it was reputed to abound, they seemed glad of the opportunity of telling us, that they believed the gold was all sent to England; adding, that their town ought now to be termed Villa Pobre, instead of Villa Ricn. Indeed we were surprised to observe the comparative poverty which prevailed among them. Of above two thousand habitations which the town contained, a considerable proportion were un

tenanted; and the rents of the rest were continually lowering. Houses were to be purchased at one half their real value; for instance, a house built a few years ago at 1000/, cost, would not now sell for more than 500l. ' P. 169.

The most interesting part of Mr Mawe's book is that in which he gives an account of the diamond works on the river Jigitonhonha. This rich river is as wide as the Thames at Windsor, and in general from three to nine feet deep. The part now in working is a curve, from which the river is directed into a canal cut across the tongue of land round which it winds, the river being stopped just below the head of the canal, by an embankment of several thousand bags of sand. The deeper parts of the channel of the river are laid dry by means of large caissons, or chain-pumps worked by a water-wheel. The mud is then carried off; and the cascalhão, or earth which contains the diamonds, is dug up, and removed to a convenient place for washing. This labour was, until lately, performed by the negroes, who carried the cascalhao in baskets on their heads, but at present is performed by machinery. The stratum of cascalhão consists of the same materials with that in the gold district. On many parts by the edge of the river, are large conglomerate masses of rounded pebbles, cemented by oxide of iron, which sometimes envelop gold and diamonds. They calculate on getting as much cascalhão in the dry season, as will occupy all their hands during the months which are subject to rain. When carried away from the bed of the river where it is dry, it is laid in heaps, containing apparently from five to fifteen tons each. Water is conveyed from a distance, and distributed to various parts of the works by means of aqueducts constructed with great ingenuity and skill. The method of washing for diamonds at this place we shall give in Mr Mawe's own words.

A shed is erected in the form of a parallelogram, twenty-five or thirty yards long and about fifteen wide, consisting of upright posts, which support a roof thatched with long grass. Down the middle of the area of this shed a current of water is conveyed through a canal covered with strong planks, on which the cascalhão is laid two or three feet thick. On the other side of the area is a flooring of planks, from four to five yards long, imbedded in clay, extending the whole length of the shed, and having a slope from the canal, of three or four inches to a yard. This flooring is divided into about twenty compartments or troughs, each about three feet wide, by means of planks placed on their edge. The upper ends of all these troughs (here called canoes) communicate with the canal, and are so formed that water is admitted into them between two planks that are about an inch separate. Through this opening the current falls about six inches into the trough, and may be directed to any part of

it, or stopped at pleasure by means of a small quantity of clay. For instance, sometimes water is required only from one corner of the aperture, then the remaining part is stopped; sometimes it is wanted from the centre, then the extremes are stopped; and sometimes only a gentle rill is wanted, then the clay is applied accordingly. Along the lower ends of the troughs a small channel is dug to carry off the water.

On the heap of cascalhão, at equal distances, are placed three high chairs for the officers or overseers. After they are seated, the negroes enter the troughs, each provided with a rake of a peculiar form and short handle, with which he rakes into the trough about fifty or eighty pounds weight of cascalhão. The water being then let in upon it, the cascalhão is spread abroad and continually raked up to the head of the trough, so as to be kept in constant motion. This operation is performed for the space of a quarter of an hour; the water then begins to run clearer; having washed the earthy particles away, the gravel-like matter is raked up to the end of the trough. After the current flows away quite clear, the largest stones are thrown out, and afterwards those of inferior size; then the whole is examined with great care for diamonds. When a negro finds one, he immediately stands upright and claps his hands; then extends them, holding the gem between his fore-finger and thumb. An overseer receives it from him, and deposits it in a gameira or bowl, suspended from the centre of the structure, half full of water. this vessel all the diamonds found in the course of the day are placed; and at the close of work are taken out and delivered to the principal officer, who, after they have been weighed, registers the particulars in a book kept for that purpose.

In

When a negro is so fortunate as to find a diamond of the weight of an octavo (174 carats), much ceremony takes place. He is crowned with a wreath of flowers, and carried in procession to the administrator, who gives him his freedom, by paying his owner for it. He also receives a present of new clothes, and is permitted to work on his own account. When a stone of eight or ten carats is found, the negro receives two new shirts, a complete new suit, with a hat and a handsome knife. For smaller stones of trivial amount, proportionate premiums are given. During my stay at Tejuco, a stone of 16 carats was found. It was pleasing to see the anxious desire manifested by the officers that it might prove heavy enough to entitle the poor negro to his freedom; and when, on being delivered and weighed, it proved only a carat short of the requisite weight, all seemed to sympathize in his disappointment.' 222-24.

Many precautions are taken to prevent the negroes from stealing the diamonds. They work in a bent position, and cannnot see the overseer, who sees them. For fear any diamonds should be concealed in the corners of the troughs, the egroes are changed frequently at the word of command of the

Overseers. If a negro is suspected of swallowing a diamond, he is confined in a solitary room, and the whole powers of the materia medica let loose upon him.

The flat pieces of ground on each side the river are equally rich throughout their extent; and the intendants are able to ascertain, by admeasurement, how many thousand carats an unworked piece of ground will yield. The substances accompa nying diamonds, and considered as indications of their proximity, are--bright, bean-like iron ore-a slaty, flint-like substance, approaching Lydian stone of fine texture-black oxide of iron in great quantities-round bits of blue quartz-yellow crystal-and other materials entirely different from any thing known to be produced in the neighbouring mountains. Diamonds are by no means peculiar to the beds of rivers or deep ravines; they have been found in water courses, and cavities on the summits of the most lofty mountains. The officers of the establishment informed Mr Mawe, that they often found diamonds cemented in puddingstone, accompanied with grains of gold. Of the diamonds, some, are so small that four or five only weigh a grain. There are seldom found more than two or three stones, of from 17 to 20 carats, in the course of a year; and not once in two years is there found, throughout the whole washings, a stone of 30 carats. During the five days Mr Mawe was there, the whole quantity found amounted only to forty diamonds, the largest of which was only four carats, and of a light green colour.

After residing here five days, we visited a diamond work called Montero, about two miles up the river, and went a league further to a gold-work called Carapata. The cascalhão at this work was taken from a part of the river eight feet deep, which formed an eddy under a projecting point; I was shown a heap of it, that was estimated to be worth 10,000l. In removing this heap from its bed, four hundred negroes had been employed three months; and to wash it, would occupy one hundred men for three months more, the expense of both operations amounting to perhaps 1,500. We arrived at this place at eight o'clock in the morning; six negroes were employed four hours in washing two troughs, containing together about a ton of cascalhão, when, to my great surprise, after the water ran clear, and the large stones were thrown out, the black oxide of iron, of which there was great abundance, was fringed with grains of gold; a novel and very agreeable sight to a stranger. The gold was taken out at three or four different times, and, when the washing was.completed, was dried over a fire and weighed: it amounted to nearly twenty ounces Troy.

There is a curious anecdote detailed by Mr Mawe, of three criminals, fugitives from justice, who by accident found a dia

mond, an ounce in weight. No man could be guilty to whom Providence had shown such favour. They were all three pardoned by the Court of Lisbon, and the clergyman whom they chose as their diamond bearer and intercessor, was amply provided for in the church: By Mr Mawe's calculation it appears that the diamonds, when brought to market, actually cost government thirtythree shillings and ninepence per carat. As all the diamonds found in these works belong to the Crown, the Royal family have been accustomed to select such as they considered worth their notice: They were formerly sent to Holland to be cut; but since the emigration of the Court, that business has fallen into the hands of the English lapidaries. The collection of diamonds now in the possession of the Prince Regent of Portugal, exceeds three million sterling; and renders him, we have no doubt, a much greater object of envy to the potentates of the earth, than Henry the IV. of France would have been in the full exercise of his patriotie benevolence, and in the full possession of his people's love. Upon the whole, this volume of Mr Mawe's, though a great deal too big, and a great deal too dear, contains some curious and interesting information: It is also tolerably well written, whether by himself or hireling; void of all nonsense; and every now and then there is a good observation.

ART. IV. Essay on the Practice of the British Government, distinguished from the abstract Theory on which it is supposed to be founded. By Gould Francis Leckie. Svo. PP. London, 1812.

ais is the most direct attack which we have ever seen in T English, upon the free constitution of England ;-or rather upon political liberty in general, and upon our government only in so far as it is free:-and it consists partly in an eager exposition of the inconveniences resulting from parliaments or representative legislatures, and partly in a warm defence and undisguised panegyric of absolute, or, as the author more elegantly phrases it, of simple anonarchy.

The pamphlet which contains these consolatory doctrines, has the further merit of being, without any exception, the worst written, and the worst reasoned, that has ever fallen into our hands; and there is nothing indeed but the extreme importance of the subject, and the singular complexion of the times in which it appears, that could induce us to take any notice of it. The rubbish that is scattered in our common walks, we