English
or French carat, amounted to 2-77 grs. troy ; but as Jths of a
Florentine carat only amounts to 2-66 grs. troy, it seems probable that
that would more closely approximate to the value of the pearl rati
which was used in the weightment of jewels by Tavernier. From the
discussion on the weight of Bäbur's diamond given in Appendix I (p.
332) of this volume, it -will be seen that there is independent
testimony by Ferishta in favour of the view that 2-66 approximates more
closely to the true value of the rati known to Tavernier and Ferishta.
Other confirmatory evidence of this having been the value of the pearl
rati will be found in the same Appendix.
A partial and preliminary notice of Tavernier's work has been referred to on p. 100 as having appeared in the Philosophical Transactions, to
which it should be added that in the same journal abstracts of the
contents of the first two volumes were subsequently published.1
The
reader's attention is invited to the curious facts brought out in
Appendix VI, from which it would appear that Chäp-puzeau obtained
access to some of Tavernier's Memoirs while the latter was still absent on his last voyage. So far as I can ascertain it has never before been recognized that the Histoire des Joyaux and the English version of it, The History of Jewels, were founded on Tavernier's original Memoirs. This work serves to clear up several points commented on in the footnotes.
During
a recent visit to Holland I ascertained that, as stated in the
Bibliography (see vol. I, p. iii), there is but, one edition of
Tavernier's Travels in the Dutch language. It was translated by J. H.
Glazemaker, and published at Amsterdam in 1682. A copy of it which I
obtained contains a number of engravings by Jan Luyken in addition to
copies of the original plates in the French editions.
It
is hoped that the present edition of Tavernier's Indian Travels, by
drawing attention to the work, will hereafter lead to the further
elucidation of many points of interest ; and the Editor desires to
intimate here, to those who may be willing to assist, that he will
gratefully acknowledge all contributions on the subject which he may
receive from readers of these volumes.
» No. 129, Nov. 20, 1676, p. 711 ; No. 130, Deo. 14, p. 751.
