dishonourable
or even unusual in the transaction. It will be noticed that in this
account there is no reference to the story of the slave, about which
neither Pitt nor Jamchund were likely to know anything. The governor
was evidently under the impression that the dealer had brought the
stone with many others down from the diamond-fields, while the dealer,
if he picked up such a gem for .£1,000 from a sea-captain on the coast,
would naturally abstain from asking any indiscreet questions, whatever
his suspicions might be. The fact that Jamchund ultimately closed for
48,000 pagodas, or a little over £20,000, after asking 200,000 pagodas,
or £85,000, would almost imply that he was glad to get rid of the
diamond " at a sacrifice," because conscious that the circumstances
attending its purchase would not bear any severe scrutiny.
Pitt's
account of his share in the transaction was afterwards fully confirmed
by Mr. Salmon who was present on the occasion. Yet it appears that the
stone, which had been consigned by Pitt to Sir Stephen Evance, of
London, and sent home in the ship Bedford, (Captain John
Hudson), was charged in the original bill of lading at 6,500 pagodas
only. This might have been done either to save freight, or more
probably to avoid attracting attention to the stone, and thereby
exposing it to the risk of being stolen.
The
diamond was cut very skilfully in London, and in the process, which
lasted two years, it was reduced from 410 to 136 3/4 carats. The
editor of the Museum Britannicum stated at the time that the cutting and polishing cost £5,000, and Jeffries, who
