HISTORICAL AND REMARKABLE DIAMONDS. 2ig
be proved beyonH a doubt. It has remained in the ruling
family during four generations, and is regarded as a kind of
tutelary deity, with miraculous healing powers. The Dutch
government negotiated for its purchase, offering the rajah two
gunboats, with all their stores and equipments, and two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in money ; but the owner could
not be induced to part with it on any terms, from the belief
that the perpetuity and success of his line depended upon his
retaining possession of this gem. It is said to have been the
cause of a destructive war, during some period of its history.
The Orloff. —This celebrated gem has its tale of romance,
intrigue, and crime, its remarkable history and conflicting
biographies, which place it alongside of the Koh-i-noor for
dramatic interest, while for size and beauty it holds a first
rank among European diamonds.
The history of the Orloff has so many different versions, it
is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to decide which is
authentic, especially as its career has frequently been merged
in that of the Great Mogul, and also in a Persian diamond,
called the " Moon of the Mountains." There is no doubt that
it is an Indian gem, that it found its way to Holland, thence
to Russia, where it was placed in the imperial sceptre, and is
considered the most remarkable diamond in the Russian
regalia, and one of the most famous in Europe ; but in relation
to its romantic history before it became the property of the
crown, the records diverge. It was purchased at Amsterdam,
by Prince Orloff, whose name it bears, for Catherine II.,
according to one historian, but, following the annals of some
other writers, it has a more devious and adventurous career,
having once constituted one of the eyes of a famous Indian
idol, from which it was plundered by a French deserter, and
sold to an English sea-captain ; from him it passed to a Lon-
