In the East Indies, the kingdom of Golconda, extending two hundred and sixty miles along the bay of Bengal, and having a breadth of two hundred miles from east to west, abounds in diamond mines. They are chiefly in the vicinity of the rocky hills and mountains which intersect the country, and in the whole of which diamonds are supposed to be contained. In several of the mines they are found scattered in the earth, within two or three fathoms of the surface, and in others are met with in a mineral substance in the body of the rocks, forty or fifty fathoms deep. The laborers having dug five or six feet into the rock, soften the stone by fire, and proceed till they find the vein, which often runs two or three furlongs under the rock. The earth being brought out and carefully searched, affords stones of various shapes, and of a good water. This earth is of a yellowish, and sometimes of a reddish color, frequently adhering to the diamond with so strong a crust that the separation becomes difficult. To find the diamonds, the workmen form a cistern of a kind of clay, with a small vent on one side, a little above the bottom; in this vent they place a plug, and throwing into the cistern the earth they have dug, pour in water to dissolve it. They then break the clods, and stir the wet earth in the cistern, allowing the lighter part to be carried off in the form of mud, when the vent-hole is opened to let out the water. They thus continue washing, until what remains in the cistern is pretty clean; and then, in the middle of the day, when the sun shines bright, carefully look over all the sand, at which practice they are so expert, that the smallest stone can not escape them. The brightness of the sun being reflected by the diamonds, aids them in their research, which would be foiled if a cloud were to intervene.