society.
They wandered about in this neighbourhood, making frequent searches in
its various mines, for more than six years, during which time they were
exposed to a double risk, being continually liable to become the prey
of the anthropophagi, and in no less danger of being seized by the
soldiers of Government. At length they, by hazard, made some trials in
the river Abaité, at a time when its waters were so low, in consequence
of a long season of drought, that a part of its bed was left exposed.
Here, while searching and washing for gold, they had the good fortune
to find a diamond nearly an ounce in weight. Elated by this
providential discovery, which at first they could scarcely believe to
be real, yet hesitating between a dread of the rigorous laws relating
to the diamonds, and a hope of regaining their liberty, they consulted
a clergyman, who advised them to trust to the mercy of the State, and
accompanied them to Villa Rica, where he procured them access to the
governor. They threw themselves at his feet, and delivered to him the
invaluable gem on which their hopes rested, relating all the
circumstances connected with it. The governor, astonished at its
magnitude, could not trust the evidence of his senses, but called the
officers of the establishment to decide whether it was a diamond, who
set the matter beyond all doubt. Being thus by the most strange and
unforseen accident put in possession of the largest diamond ever found
in America, he thought proper to suspend the sentence of the men as a
reward for their having delivered it to him. The gem was sent to Rio
de Janeiro, from whence a frigate was dispatched with it
