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THE DIAMOND
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later,
more of their innate brilliancy was revealed by grinding them together,
the oriental mind gave them such names as " Sea of Light," " Light of
the Moon," and the like. In the lands of the Sun, they held imprisoned
souls, in the poetic imagination of many. Men saw intelligence in the
plan of the shapely crystals, and that give birth to speculations which
became the nuclei of many superstitions. To their fortunate possessors
they were treasures, not of price but very precious, and peculiarly
fitted to adorn the persons of the great. The big diamonds, seldom
found, were guarded with jealous care by the lords whose droit they
were. Held often at great cost of blood and life, when they did change
hands, they passed only to conquerors as the spoils of war.
Now
that one may see diamonds in glittering masses, not only in jewelers'
windows, but in dry-goods stores, though they attract, they do not have
quite the effect upon the mind of the beholder which the mere mention
of the name had, when they were seldom seen, and then only in the hands
of cautious dealers or upon the persons of the great and powerful.
Nevertheless, there remains something of the old regard. The diamond is
still a thing of great price and a sign of wealth if not of power; the
old stories of diamonds, blazing in the helmets of kingly soldiers and
from the folds of princely turbans, gathered there by many devious
paths of bloodshed and adventure from dark, mysterious mines, still
stir the soul when the light of their flashes ensnares the eye.
India
has always been regarded as the natural home of the diamond, for there
it was first found. In the old times, when journeys to the Orient could
only be made
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