212 THE GREAT DIAMONDS OF THE WORLD.
told,
a poor Vaisya preparing a piece of ground to sow some millet, struck
his hoe on a stone, which to his surprise and the dealers, too, turned
out to be a diamond weighing twenty-five carats. It was from this thin
soil that a stone of forty carats was found, which was presented to
Shah Jehan by the Persian general Emir Jemla. But the stones found here
were tinged with green, yellow, or red. Tavernier speaks of a diamond
the weight of which was 793 carats, which was given by the Emir Jemla
to the emperor. Sumelpoor on the South-Western frontier of Bengal, and
near the source of the river Quel, was also visited by Tavernier, and
the South-West of Allahabad on the Ganges, a stronghold of the
Prasians, was also the locality of the most ancient diamond mines.
Vast
as were and are these diamond fields, comparatively few remarkable
stones are declared to have been discovered there, and for obvious
reasons. The feudal lord of the soil made conditions with the employer
of labour, similar to those existing between the rich merchant jeweller
Marcandar, and the King of Golconda, who stipulated that the merchant
should pay yearly to the king 30,000 pagodas of 8s. 6d. each for
working the mine, and reserve for the king's special right all stones
found, which exceeded in weight two carats. This, no doubt, accounts
for so few large diamonds coming to light. The merchant's temptation to
have large stones broken up was very great.
The
experience of smuggling in all ages, and in every country, confirms the
report that this restriction only stimulated the secreting and disposal
of the
