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THE GREAT MOGUL'S DIAMOND 338
Bäbur's rati would be 1-842 gr. troy, and the value of his diamond in carats might be expressed by the following equation.
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In
such a calculation it is well to bear in mind that a very slight
variation in the rati, as a unit, would, when multiplied, produce a
considerable difference in the result. Thus, if 1·86 were put instead
of 1-842, the resultant would be enhanced above the desired figure,
namely the weight of the Koh-i-Nür.
Here
I must leave Bäbur's diamond for the present, without expressing any
more decided opinion as to the absolute accuracy of the data which make
its weight appear to be actually identical with that of the Koh-i-Nür,
being, however, as will be seen in the sequel, quite content not to
dispute their general correctness, though my deduction therefrom does
not accord with Professor Maskelyne's.
In the year 1563 Garcia da Orta, in his famous work on the Simples and Drugs of India,1
mentioned four large diamonds, one of which he was told had been seen
at Bisnaguer, i. e. Vijayanagar, and was the size of a small hen's egg.
The others weighed respectively—
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None
of these three last can be identified with the Great Mogul's diamond,
because, even supposing it had been already discovered at so early a
date as 1563, it must then, as will be seen hereafter, have been uncut,
and had a weight of 787| carats, or more than double the weight of the
largest of them ; but it might have been the one spoken of as being of
the size of a small hen's egg, as that was probably its form in its
early condition when acquired by Mir .lumia. As to whether any of the
stones mentioned by Garcia could have been the same as Bäbur's diamond,
it is quite useless to speculate ; but, as none of them are said to
have belonged to the Mogul, it seems to be most improbable.
In
the year 1609, De Boot, in his work on gems, &c, referred to all
these diamonds mentioned by Garcia, but when doing so, was guilty of
three serious blunders, which were, however, detected by his editor,
Adrian Toll ; they have misled many
1 Colloquios dos simples e drogas e cousas medicinaes da India, p. 159 ; Colloquies on the Simples and Drugs of India, trans. Sir C. Markham, London, 1913, p. 347.
2
He says the mangelin =5 gr., the carat 4 gr., and the rati 3 gr. (of
wheat). Sir C. Markham gives the weights as 140, 120, 250 carats.
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