D I A M O N D S

C. Ritter arranged the Indian diamond mines known to him in five groups, according to their geographical distribution, and described them in order from south to north. In what follow, this grouping will be adopted, the smaller mining districts not mentioned by Ritter being introduced in appropriate places, and information derived from later reports, especially those of V. Ball, incorporated with the matter given by Ritter (Ball gives a rather different grouping of the mines). The map shows the distribution of the diamond-fields in India.

1. The Cuddapah Group on the Penner River.

This group includes the most southerly mines; those furthest to the east are in the neighborhood of Cuddapah on the river Penner, where numerous mines have been worked for several centuries with varying success. At the present time the majority of the mines in this group - perhaps, at times, the whole of them - are abandoned, but this by no means indicates that the supply of diamonds has been completely exhausted.

2. The Nandial Group between the Penner and Kistna Rivers.

This group lies near the town of Banaganapalli, and only about seventeen miles north of the last group. It is situated on the northern margin of the plain, which extends from the western slopes of the Nallamalais as far as the town of Nandial (lat. 15º 30' N., long. 78º 30' E.). The mines of this group, which are sometimes referred to, for example, by V. Ball, as the Karnul diamond mines, lie to the east, southeast, and west of Nandial, and are partly in the diamantiferous bed itself and partly in the sands. This group, of which a few only of the more important workings can here be mentioned, includes some of the most famous mines ever worked in India, the majority of which, however, are now abandoned.