KNOWN from very early times, the diamond has always retained for itself the principal place among jewels. Still in the east, a superstitious feeling attaches itself to this stone, about which innumerable fables have, in various ages, been current. The orientals believe that certain diamonds shine in the dark, so as to be used by solitary students for lamps; and at Bagdad, they say, in the reign of Haroun al Raschid, a youth was discovered in an oratory reading the Koran by the light of a diamond as large as a hen's egg. With respect to size, the exaggeration is not very great, since the stone found at Koloor fell little short, before it was cut and polished, of the dimensions attributed to the Bagdad stone by the imagination of the Arabs. The trade in diamonds, though often highly lucrative, did not form a separate branch of commerce till a comparatively recent date, and even now is seldom entirely detached from the traffic in other gems; yet it demands so much skill, acuteness, and experience, that those only achieve great success who devote themselves exclusively to this department of trade. Its profitableness, however, depends much on fashion, on accidental variations in public taste, and on fluctuations in the supply, regulated by no law, and therefore not to be foreseen or guarded against. Where these glittering vanities will turn up, science is unable to determine. They are found in mountains and on plains, in plowed fields and in marshes, in India, in Siberia, in Borneo, and in Brazil. Sometimes there is a scarcity of them, at other times a glut; but whether scarce or plentiful, there has never since their discovery been a period during which they have not constituted a favorite article of regal and imperial magnificence, and been thought to lend additional splendor to beauty itself. Throughout the east, queens and princesses never consider themselves properly appareled unless they have a blaze of diamonds about their waists, ornaments of the same gems flashing between the tresses of their raven hair, and descend. DIAMONDS. ing in festoons upon their bosoms. Sultans and chiefs also aim at producing ef fect upon their subjects by decorating their persons after the same fashion, and studding the hilts and scabbards of their poniards and sabers with jewels. Here, in Europe, the same taste, a little modified, prevails. Men do not consider it effeminate or ridiculous to wear diamond-rings, while women are often vainer of these brilliants than of their own personal charms. The wife of an English ambassador appeared, not very long ago, at the French court with a million's worth of jewels on her dress, so that, as she moved beneath the vast chandeliers of the Tuileries, she looked like a personification of the mines. of Golconda. Most persons will remember what marvels have been wrought by diamond-necklaces, and how the fate of thrones and the destinies of whole nations have been influenced by one woman's passion for these adornments. Once at Calcutta, a curious substitute for diamonds was used by a lady at the governor-general's ball. She caught a number of fireflies, and stitched them to her dress in diminutive bags of gauze. The effect was striking beyond conception. As she moved, the flies shot forth their light, so that the side of her dress which was turned from the chandelier seemed to be spotted with fire. With the changing phases of civilization, all kinds of jewels rise or fall in public esteem. The diamond seems to have exerted its greatest influence during the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, when the belief in its mysterious properties was still rife throughout Christendom. Merchants then traveled over the whole east, exposing themselves to every kind of peril, and enduring hunger, thirst, and extreme fatigue to collect these glittering spoils of the earth, by dealing in which they amassed princely fortunes, purchassed immense estates, and founded powerful families. Accident occasionally came to the aid of their skill and intrepidity. Amid the ruins, for example, of Constantinople, a poor boy picked up a diamond which he sold to a janizary for four men, who might generally be conciliated by fair words and the act of putting confidence in them. pence; the soldier, in his turn, disposed |ings, however, were not always commenof it to some one else for a few shillings; surate with their riches and authority. and thus the jewel proceeded from hand Of a conversation which he once had with to hand, until, for a comparatively small a shah of Persia, he has left a minute and sum, it became the property of a mer- curious account; but as it did not turn on chant, who obtained for it, from Sultan the diamond-trade, it would be beside our Mourad II., the sum of a hundred thou- purpose to repeat it. When he made sand crowns. So, again, in India, a poor known his intention of visiting the Indian peasant, turning up the soil with his mines, most of those with whom he conplow, was struck by the peculiar glitter versed sought to dissuade him from realof a pebble lying among other stones. izing his design, by representing them as Stopping his oxen, he picked it up, and encircled by every kind of danger, malaria though he understood nothing of gems, of the most deadly kind, forests infested immediately, with the quickness of an by wild beasts, and tribes of men surpassoriental, persuaded himself he had found ing the worst of these in ferocity. But a prize. Abandoning his plow, there- the traveler, confiding in his own experifore, and wrapping up the pebble in a ence, despises all their warnings. He had rag, he walked, barefoot, a distance of invariably found perils vast and threatenforty miles, to Golconda, where his good ing at a distance diminish as he approachfortune directed him to an honest mer-ed, especially where he had to deal with chant, who informed him he was in possession of the largest diamond in the world. What sum he obtained for it is not stated; but it was sufficient to enrich both himself and his descendants. The history of this stone, if it could be given in full, would form a volume. Having been purchased by an ambitious chief, eager to barter his ornaments for political power, he presented it to the great descendant of Baber, Aurungzebe. From him it passed down, through various vicissitudes, to the last Sikh ruler of the Punjaub, and became, by victory, the property of the East-India Company. However vast might be its value, they made a present of it to the Queen; and under the name of Kohihnoor, or Mountain of Light, it was beheld by millions of the English people, beneath a strong iron grating, at the Great Exhibition of 1851. When a diamond-merchant traveled eastward from Europe, wherever he made known his destination, princes and grandees were sure to intrust him with fresh orders, particularly in Turkey and Persia. Before he reached India, therefore, his commissions were often so numerous that he had much difficulty, even in the mart of Golconda, to find gems sufficient to Nearly all the old writers describe the supply the demands of his customers. scene of their operations in a vague and The great traveler, Tavernier, may be unsatisfactory manner, which imparts an looked upon as a fair representative of the air of romance to their accounts, but comdiamond-dealers of his age. Being a man pels us to have recourse to more modern of more than ordinary intelligence, who authorities when we would acquire precise extended the sphere of his observations information. The diamond-mines of India considerably beyond the limits of com- are chiefly situated between the Kistnah merce, he was often consulted by the and Pennar rivers, and many of them most powerful princes, whose understand-cluster about both banks of the latter The condition of the Deccan, it must be owned, was far better then than it has been since. At the present day, it would hardly be safe for a merchant with large bags of gold to travel from the coast of Malabar, through the gorges of the Western Ghauts, to Bejapore and Golconda, since he would be nearly certain to encounter predatory bands of Arabs, breaking away, perhaps, from the service of the Nizam, or on the way to offer to His Highness the use of their swords. Thugs, Phansigurs, Dakoits, and other robbers, in spite of the police organized by the English, might likewise have something to say to his treasures and to his throat. But in those days of Mogul supremacy, when the scepter of Delhi was stretched with more or less vigor over all India, the adventurous diamond-merchant landed at Surat, familiar to all readers of the Arabian Nights, and made his way without let or hindrance to Golconda. There, under the charge of an apothecary, he left a large portion of his wealth, and with the remainder proceeded to the mines. this unclouded brilliance, the diamond passes through a thousand intermediate changes to absolute black, when it presents the appearance of translucent ebony. Occasionally, when it has been steeped for thousands of years in a morass, it as sumes the hues of the beryl or of the topaz, or even of a very pale sapphire. The last is least in esteem among the merchants, who detect its lurking blue by examining it under the thick foliage of a tree. In Europe, lapidaries study the water of the diamond in broad daylight; but the Hindoos, for this purpose, prefer the night. Placing a powerful lamp in a square opening in a wall, they stand before it, and hold up the diamond between the finger and thumb against the stream of light, which enables them to detect the minutest flaw in its interior. stream. The gems are found in the alluvial soil, or in rocks of the most recent formation, in lands not greatly elevated above the level of the sea. Not far distant, however, are ranges of hills about a thousand feet in hight, in one of which the Pennar rises, and after forcing its way through a gap in the other, flows through a channel alternately soft and rocky, through the district of Nellore. The search for diamonds still goes on as of old; the speculators farm from the government plots of ground, more or less entensive, which they inclose with a low fence, within which they carry on their operations. Large gems are rarely found, but when they do turn up, a third of their value is claimed by the government, which is therefore far more grasping and oppressive than in the seventeenth century, when it was satisfied with a duty of two per cent from When the trade was at its hight, a merthe seller and buyer. The enthusiasm chant arriving from foreign countries was which once animated this branch of in- waited on by the governor, who explained dustry has almost entirely died away. the rules in conformity with which busiThe work is carried on languidly both ness was carried on in the place; he then, here and at Sumbhulpore on the Maha- if the stranger consented, took all the muddy, where sixty thousand men, wo-money he had brought with him into his men, and children were once beheld diffused like swarms of bees over the plain, digging, washing, sorting, or bearing bags of jewels in the matrix to the offices of the overseers. Smaller diamonds are discovered by their sparkle amid the gravel, which shows they are only fragments of larger stones broken by accident, because when entire they are wrapped in a crust, polished and shining indeed like pebbles on the sea-shore, but disclosing no other symptoms of the brilliance within. keeping, and bound himself to answer for its safety to the smallest fraction; but both Mohammedan and Hindoo dealers were so addicted to the practice of fraud, that the government found itself under the necessity of keeping the strictest possible watch upon them. A secret war, indeed, was always carried on between the rulers and the merchants-the former seeking to obtain their share of all profits made; the latter, to elude their demands. In Tavernier's case, four inferior officers Nothing like a philosophical history of were granted him, nominally as a guard precious stones has yet been written. of honor, but in fact as spies upon his We know nothing of the chemical process proceedings, for, having never been acby which nature forms them, nothing of customed to honesty, the worthy governthe materials of which they are composed, or found himself under the necessity of for all that has been discovered by experi- suspecting and watching every body. ment amounts to this, that the diamond But Hindoo craft easily outgeneraled the may be destroyed by immense heat. heavy wits of the Moslems. One day, as Practically, it is observed that it acquires the traveler was seated enjoying himself certain peculiarities from the nature of the in the midst of his guards, a native mersoil in which it is found. When perfect, chant approached, dressed in mean attire, it exactly resembles so much pure water, and displaying every external token of congealed by nature's chemistry, and ren- poverty, but accustomed to the devices dered harder than the hardest metal. of the Hindoos, the European took no noWhen its interior is exposed, by polishing, tice of this fact, and invited the Banian to the light, the rays of the sun descend to sit down beside him. He was, of nto its depths, and playing and wander- course, a dealer in precious stones, though ing there, are reflected, refracted, and in-apprehensive of the rapacity of the gov termingled so as to produce an almost ernment, or preferring mystery before supernatural blaze of splendor. From open dealing, he would not enter upon business in presence of the Mohammedan with any precious stone presents himself, guards. He had, however, timed his visit well; the hour of prayer approached, when these disciples of Mohammed would, he conjectured, in spite of all earthly considerations, depart to repeat their orisons in the mosque. As soon as the muezzin's voice was heard from a neighboring minaret summoning the faithful to their devotions, three of the four spies attended to the call; but the fourth, having the fear of the governor before his eyes, remained to observe the dealings of the Frank and the Hindoo. Tavernier, however, was not to be so disappointed; pretending to be without bread, he dispatched the Moslem to the town in search of some, and was thus at liberty to converse on business with the Banian. The Hindoo, now unrolling his long dark hair, drew forth from among its plaits a diamond of so rare a lustre that the traveler was struck with extraordinary admiration. It weighed nearly fifty carats, and its pure transparency appeared to be without flaw; but the money he had with him fell greatly short of the price of so precious a jewel, though he could not restrain himself from gazing at its beauty. "Do not waste your time," said the Hindoo, "but meet me in the evening outside the city walls; bring a sufficient sum along with you, and the diamond shall be yours." At the time appointed, just as the shades of evening were thickening into night, the merchant, without attendant or witness, repaired to the place of meeting, and the dealer, being true to his word, brought along with him the gem, which Tavernier afterwards sold to a Dutch officer on the Malabar coast for what he called an honest profit, which in all likelihood, was considerable. The quickness and penetration of the diamond-dealers of Golconda, which invariably excite the astonishment of strangers, may easily be accounted for by the nature of their business education. At the age of six years, the sons of the dealers commence their studies; not in schools or colleges, but on the public mart. The boys are formed into a sort of guild, at the head of which is the senior of the company. They are each furnished with a bag of gold and a pair of scales, and thus equipped, they seat themselves crosslegged in a circle, and await in silence the coming of the sellers. When a person he delivers it to the head of the guild, who, after due deliberation, hands it to the boy next to him in age, and he to the next, until it has made the circuit of the whole body. It is supposed that by some touch of the hand given while passing on the gem, the boys intimate to each other their favorable or unfavorable opinion, for not a word is spoken or a look exchanged, as far as the keenest observer can perceive. The diamond is then weighed, and either bought or rejected. Every day they make up their accounts, and divide the profits equally among them all, save that one quarter per cent is given in addition to the eldest boy. If, however, he should be unlucky enough to make a bad bargain, the entire loss falls upon him. But so great, as a rule, is their skill, that any member of the guild will, in case of pressure take at its full price the purchase of any other without the least examination. Much the same system is pursued by the older dealers, except that they affect greater mystery. It has been already stated that a percentage of the gains made by the dealers is paid to the government; and as Eastern rulers are often unscrupulous in all transactions with their subjects, the latter have recourse to the most subtle craft in self-defense. This fact will satisfactorily account for the following mystical method of buying and selling. The nature of the article to be transferred and the denomination of the coin being understood, the seller spreads out the end of his waist-shawl, and places his hand beneath it; the buyer immediately introduces his hand likewise, and the pantomime commences. The use of language on these occasions is entirely abjured, so that, on the Exchange of Golconda, millions may pass from man to man in absolute silence. Two or three hundred merchants, perhaps, seated in couples upon the floor, are engaged in making bargains, which, taken altogether, would represent the wealth of whole kingdoms. When the buyer offers a thousand pagodas, he grasps the entire hand of the seller, and for every thousand gives a separate pressure. If he grasps the fingers only, he means five hundred; one finger, one hundred; from the middle joint, fifty; from the lower, ten. There are masonic tokens for smaller sums, but these seem to have escaped detection. It is obviously practicable for persons who do business after this fashion to estimate their own income-tax in defiance of the government myrmidons, and thus the most opulent of the Hindoos are able to conceal the amount of their riches, and the extent of the transactions they carry on. compel him to disclose the site of his discovery. But the obstinacy of the African proved more than an equal match for the cruelty of the Brazilians, though not for their cunning. His escape was purposely connived at, but several Indians were put upon his trail, and these following him like blood-hounds night and day, at length beheld him rooting.up for diamonds at the foot of the Sincura Mountains. Most Asiatics entertain peculiar notions respecting silence, and it was from them, What became of the black finder is not unquestionably, that Pythagoras learned stated; but no sooner had it been ascerto associate disuse of the tongue with the tained that the precious stones really exstudy of wisdom. At the Borneo dia- isted there in great abundance, than the mond-mines there is a superstition con- population of the province multipled as if nected with this subject, which may be by miracle, swelling in a few months from worth mentioning. The persons employ-eight thousand to thirty thousand. To ed in the washings are enjoined to abstain at least from loud talking, lest they should offend the presiding spirit of the mines, who, in revenge for the disturbance of his repose, might frustrate their search after the riches he dispenses to mortals. Yet all sounds are not displeasing to him: with the voice of a woman's singing his ear is charmed; and, if in addition to a sweet voice, she happen to possess a beautiful countenance, he pours the jewels without stint into her lap. A complete revolution was brought about in the diamond-trade, in 1844, by the discovery of the mines of Sincura, in Brazil. For ages it had been known that the diamond was produced in that empire, whence the King of Portugal obtained the gem long regarded as the finest in the world. But in the year above mentioned, accident threw open to the enterprise of the Brazilians what may be denominated the great diamond-fields, which have been not unaptly compared to the valley of Sindebad, and the jeweled gardens of Aladdin. All the social phenomena since witnessed at the diggings of California and Australia were then exhibited at Sincura. The sugar-growers deserted their works, the merchants their counting-houses, sailors their vessels, and even effeminate gentlemen their pleasures, and rushed to the diamond-mines, where for a while they picked up jewels by handfuls. This new source of wealth was discovered by a slave, who, having collected gems of immense value, traveled a great distance to dispose of them. The avarice of the authorities being thus excited, the slave was seized and thrown into prison, where means-none of the gentlest, we may be sure-were employed to VOL. XLIX-NO. 3 the credit of the government, freedom of search was granted to all comers, which at the outset induced the most fearful desperadoes, robbers, and murderers to engage in the operation. No police existed, provisions were scarce and difficult to be procured, and violence and assassination became common incidents. By degrees, however, a regular police was established, and a certain amount of order introduced, after which the business was conducted in something like a civilized fashion. Three fourths of the early exports from Sincura found their way to England, the remainder was distributed through France and Germany, and employed all the lapidaries in Europe for several years. But however abundant may be the mines, the Brazilian gems are inferior in lustre, as well as in dimensions, to the oriental. Those of Paraguaçu are of a dun color, while such as are found at Lancoës are white or pale green, which are most highly valued in commerce. The flooding of the market occasioned by this discovery diminished, as might have been expected, the value of diamonds, which, in a few years sunk twenty-five or thirty per cent. The chemical experiments, moreover, which have lately been made in all parts of Europe, have deprived this gem of its title to be considered adamantine — incapable of being subdued by the force of the elements. Innumerable experiments, however, have now shown that a degree of heat insufficient even to affect the polish of the ruby, will reduce the diamond to white ashes. But, though more indestructible, all rubescent gems are inferior to the diamond in beauty. In this quality it still surpasses every species of jewel, 28 |