visited
the seaports to trade in the products of the Orient, and who frequently
bought diamonds to use as remittances for their own purchases in the
home countries. But if the merchant had a great stone which came into
his possession by way of a miner who had been too adroit for the
watchful eye of the King's overseer, or from the hand of a freebooter,
then he must be cautious. First he must find a likely purchaser; then
by skillful aids, rumors must be sent floating to his ear, dropped as
lightly and skillfully as the angler drops a fly upon the water to be
carried past the hiding place of a wary trout. If he rose to the bait,
some one stood near to tell what he had heard of the wonderful beauty
and magnificence of the stone. Hints of roguery, danger, the desire of
some great rajah to own it, or loot from a far-away temple or royal
treasury, were made to stimulate curiosity and whet an appetite for a
share by trade in the plunder. In good time the merchant's
representative arrives and broaches the subject, contriving while doing
so to introduce his own idea of the great value and probable price of
the gem. He leaves, and one day, it may be weeks, it may be months
later, he returns, and with him the merchant and his great diamond. The
jewel is exhibited, the price asked, given and wrangled over. The
interview ends, and the wily Orientals leave, carrying the diamond with
them. At unexpected times, this would happen again and again until an
offer was made. Then the trader sought by every artifice to get an
increase until, sure that he had the last rupee possible, he left the
stone and carried away the price. Over a year was consumed in the
negotiations between Jaur-chund the Hindu merchant and Gov. Pitt, over
the sale
