Mining of Brazilian Diamonds Through the Nineteenth Century

The Brazilian mines, which were practically only river diggings, were originally government property and were worked mainly by slaves. The slaves, while constantly watched and severely punished if detected, still managed to secrete and steal a large percentage of all the diamonds found. The Brazilian diamonds were practically all small stones, very few being above fifteen or twenty carats in the rough. Some were very fine, while others were quite poor. The supply from Brazil at first frightened the Indian miners and reports were spread that the Brazilian stones were simply the refuse of the Indian mines shipped to Brazil. The Portuguese of Brazil, however, effectually turned the tables by shipping their diamonds to India, where they were sold as Indian stones at the market price. The height of the Brazilian mines appears to have been reached about the years 1861 to 1867. During that period there were shipped from Diamantina about ten million dollars' worth of rough diamonds.