The Matrix of the Diamond.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1905, 20 September 1884, Page 5

The Matrix of the Diamond.

Until the Houth Atncan mines were discovered, the diamond was always found in sand 3 and. gravels, different from the mineral in which it was believed to be formed. At Qriqualand West, however, the consolidated eruptive mud ot the mines was believed by some to be the true matrix of the diamond ; but opinions differed on the question, and arguments were found on both sided. M. Chapar, a French geologist, has, however, dusing a scientific mission to Hindustan, succeeded in finding the diamond in its moiher rock. At Naizam, near Bellary, in the Madras Presidency, M. Chaper has found the diamond ia a matrix of rose pegmatite, ■ where it is associated with corundum. The tract of country is almost denuded of trees, bara and rocky, and the rams wasting the rocks, every year expose fresh diamonds in ■ the soil. The sock is traversed by veins of feldspar and epidotiferous quartz. Here the diamond is always found, associated with epidotiferous rese pegmatite. The diamond! crystals observed are octahedral, but less distinct in line than the stones of South Africa,, which seem to have been formed in a. freer. matrix. It follows from M. Chapec's diflcovery that diamonds may exist in all rocka arising from the destruction, or erosion of pegmatite—for example, in, quartaites with or without mica, clays, pudding-stones, Ac— Engineering.