GROWTH OF THE DIAMOND TRADE 43
Under
these conditions, it will be readily understood that the trade in
diamonds for many centuries was very limited, and was confined
necessarily to those suitable for mechanical purposes only, some
inferior gem stones, and a few large pieces stolen from the mines, or
obtained by knavery of some kind. One may imagine also the difficulties
of trade in important stones under these circumstances. The dealer,
conscious perhaps that his diamond came to him by way of robbery,
perhaps bloodshed, and that it properly belonged to the ruler of his
own or some neighboring country, was careful to hide its antecedents
and obliterate as far as possible all records concerning it. Secrecy
and deceit attended every sale. To hide more thoroughly the real
history of the stone, imagination supplied one innocent of punishable
criminality, but ornate. These oriental fables invented by the chapmen
of past centuries, drifted through the channels of trade into the
literature of later days, and still cling to the diamonds of India, as
morning mists hang about the hillsides long after the sun has risen.
These methods were in part therefore necessary. One who deals in
diamonds now must be watchful. Even when a stone had passed from one to
another legitimately, the owner had need then for greater care than
now. Diamonds were fully as attractive to thieves then. Laws were very
uncertain; magistrates more so, and rulers had a habit of finding
methods to obtain things they desired which did not include a quid pro quo. If
the dealer's title to ownership was open to question, an attempt to
sell must be made with extreme caution. Ordinary stones could be
trafficked in openly, or carried for sale to the foreigners, who from
the fifteenth century
