of Sumbhulpoor, and of another small town in the vicinity, then issued forth, to the number of eight thousand, and began to examine the appearance of the sands. If they perceived upon any spot certain small stones, resembling what are called thunder-*stones in Europe, they immediately concluded that there were gems concealed below; and having enclosed a considerable space with poles and fascines, began to scoop up the sand, and convey it to a place prepared for its reception upon the shore. Hamilton and other modern authorities, however, observe, that the diamonds are found in a matrix of red clay, which is washed down among heaps of earth of the same colour from the neighbouring mountains, and that in the sand of the same rivulets which contain the gems considerable quantities of gold are likewise discovered.
I have here thrown together the result of several visits to the diamond-mines, to avoid the necessity of returning again and again, after the manner of our traveller himself, to the same spot; and shall now accompany him through Surat to Agra and Delhi. Having returned to Surat with his jewels, and advantageously disposed of a part of them in that city, he departed with the remainder for the capital. At Baroche, in Guzerat, he witnessed the astonishing performances of those jugglers whose achievements have been the wonder of travellers from the days of Megasthenes down to the present moment, and in a barbarous age might well justify the faith of mankind in the powers of magic. The first feat they performed was to make the chains with which their bodies were encircled red-hot, by means of an immense fire which they had kindled, and the touch of these they bore without shrinking, or seeming to feel any thing beyond a slight inconvenience. They next took a small piece of wood, and having planted it in the earth, demanded of one of the bystanders what fruit they should cause it to produce. The
