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XI.
THE KOH-I-NUR.*
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The
Great Diamond of History and Romance "—Strange but True—Fact and
Fable—An Extravagant Tradition —" One Long Romance of Five Centuries
"—Tricks of Eastern Friendship—Exchanging Turbans—The Pitiful Story of
Shah Rokh—A Factor of War and Murder, the Stone Carries a Curse—Built
up in a Prison Wall—A Pathetic Incident—Eastern Reverence for Gems—The
Supposed Talisman of Victory brings Defeat—Annexation of the Punjaub to
the British Empire—Confiscation of the Crown Jewels of Lahore to the
East India Company—The Greatest Gem of all Presented to the Queen — Its
Character and Appearance — It is Re-cut on the Advice of the Prince
Consort—The Koh-i-Nùr at last a Token of Liberty and Peace.
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HIS
is pre-eminently the " Great Diamond of history and romance." Its
stirring adventures, when divorced from all connection with Tavernier's
" Great Mogul," become intelligible enough. The first distinct and
authentic reference to the "Koh-i-Nur" occurs in the subjoined passage
from the Memoirs of Sultan Baber, the author of which was a direct descendant of Tamerlane, and founder of the so-called Mogul Empire
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