38 THE GREAT DIAMONDS OF THE WORLD.
560
carats ; but even so it would still remain exactly twice as large as
the Great Mogul, the' next largest cut stone of which we have any
record. Consequently, pending the decision of the question regarding
its real nature, it must stand at the head of our list of great
diamonds.
One of the earliest and best accounts we have of this stone is that given by Mawe at p. 242 of his Travels in Brazil. " A
few leagues," he writes, " to the north of the Rio Plata is the rivulet
named Abaì'té, celebrated for having produced the largest diamond in
the Prince's possession, which was found about twelve years ago. Though
this circumstance has been already briefly stated,* it may be allowed
me in this place to relate the particulars as they were detailed to me
during my stay at Tejuco. Three men [elsewhere named Antonio de Sousa,
Jose Feliz Gomez, and Thomas de Sousa], having been found guilty of
high crimes, were banished into the interior, and ordered not to
approach any of the capital towns, or to remain in civilized society on
pain of perpetual imprisonment. Driven by this hard sentence into the
most unfrequented part of the country, they endeavoured to explore new
mines or new productions, in the hope that, sooner or later, they might
have the good fortune to make some important discovery, which would
obtain a reversal of their sentence, and enable them to regain their
station in
