t stating of this opinion and its confirmation, by
proper examination, as it was difficult to persuade the inhabitants
that what they had been long accustomed to despise, could be of such
amazing importance; and in this interval, as I was told, a governor of
one of these places procured a good number of these stones, which
he pretended to make use of as markers at cards. The truth of the
discovery was at last confirmed by skilful jewellers in Europe, who
were consulted on the occasion, and who declared that these Brazilian
pebbles were true diamonds, many of which were not inferior in lustre,
or other qualities, to those of the East Indies. On this being made
known, the Portuguese in the neighbourhood of the places where these
had been first discovered, set themselves to search for diamonds with
great assiduity, and were hopeful of discovering them in considerable
quantities, as they found large rocks of crystal in many of the
mountains whence the streams proceeded that washed down the diamonds.

[Footnote 6: The author writes as of the year 1740.--E.]

Soon after this discovery, it was represented to the king of Portugal,
that if diamonds should be met with in such abundance as their
sanguine expectations seemed to indicate, their value and estimation
would be so debased as to ruin all the Europeans who had any quantity
of East India diamonds in their possession, and would even render
the discovery itself of no importance, and prevent his majesty from
deriving any advantages from it. On these considerations, his majesty
thought proper to restrain the general search for diamonds, and
erected a diamond company, with an exclusive charter for this purpose;
in which company, in consideration of a sum of money paid to the king,
the property of all diamonds found in Brazil is vested: But, to hinder
them from collecting too large quantities, and thereby reducing their
value in the market, they are prohibited from employing above eight
hundred slaves in this search. To prevent any of his other subjects
from continuing the search, and to secure the company against
interlopers, a large town, and considerable surrounding district, has
been depopulated; and all the inhabitants, said to have amounted
to six thousand, have been obliged to remove to another part of the
country: For as this town and district were in the neighbourhood of
the diamonds, it was thought impossible to prevent such a number of
people from frequently smugglin