ANSWERS
RETURN'D BY
Sir PHILBERTO VERNATTI
Resident in Batavia in Java Major,
To certain Inquiries sent thither by Order of the Royal Society, and recommended by
Sir ROBERT MORAY.
Q.1.WHether Diamonds and other precious Stones grow again, after three or four Years, in the same Places where they have been digged out?
A. Never, or at least as the Memory of Man can attain to.
Q.2. Whether the Quarries of Stone in India, near Fetipoca, not far from Agra, may be cleft like Logs, and sawn like Planks, to ceil Chambers, and cover Houses.
A. What they are about the Place mentioned, I have not as yet been well inform'd; but in Persia not far from Cyrus where the best Wine groweth, there is a sort of hard Stone which may be cleft like Firwood, as if it had a Grain in it; the same is at the Coast Cormandel about Sadraspatuam; where they make but a mark in the Stone, set a Wedge upon it, with a wooden Hammer, as thick and thin as they please; it is used commonly for Pavement in Houses, one Foot square, and so cheap, that such a Stone finely polish'd costs not above six Pence.
