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The Diamond Mines of South Africa
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CHAPTER I
THE ANCIENT ADAMAS
the
beginning of the last century, when the blinded Shah-Shuja sought
refuge in the lair of the " Lion of the Punjaub," Runjeet Singh, his
chief treasure was the crystal pebble which Nadir Shah had snatched
from the head of the last of the Great Moguls. For the sake of the
pebble, Runjeet starved the wife and children of his friend until he
was driven to lay the Koh-i-nur at the feet of his host. " At what
price do you value it?" said the Lion, showing his teeth in a grim
smile.
"At good luck," replied the blind Shah, " for it has ever been the bosom companion of him who has triumphed over his enemies."
It
may have been the traditional talisman of Carna, Rajah of Anga,
fighting in legendary wars, hundreds of years before the great Achilles
stormed and sulked under the walls of Troy.1 From its earliest known appearance it had been so coveted that agas and sultans and
1
"Tales from Indian History," J. Talboys Wheeler, assistant secretary of
the government of India in the Foreign Department, Calcutta, 1881 ;
"The Great Diamonds of the World," Edwin W. Streeter.
1
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