A
brilliant of pyramidal form, valued at 827,000 lire, belongs also to
the Brazilian treasury, and ornaments the handle of King Giovanni's
staff.
Here
is still preserved the robe of state belonging to King Giuseppe I.,
which has twenty buttons, each of which is a single brilliant, and all
together are worth 2,500,000 lire.
In
the neighbourhood of Landak a diamond was found in the year 1787 which
in its rough state weighed 318 carats. It belongs to the Eajah of
Matau, in Borneo. In 1820 the Governor of Batavia sent Stewart to the
rajah, to offer him in exchange for this gem two armed ships of war,
and the sum of 150,000 dollars ; but the rajah refused to give it, on
account of a superstition held by his Malay subjects, who considered
this stone as inseparable from the destinies of their nation, and
believed that the water in which it had been immersed could cure every
kind of illness.
Under
the name of Nizam a diamond is known which belonged to the King of
Golconda, and weighs 340 carats ; its value is as much as 5,000,000
lire.
The
Grand Mogul diamond was dug out of the mines of Gani. As described by
Tavernier, art first it was thought by some to be a white sapphire ;
but, as there did not appear sufficient reason to keep to this opinion,
it is now spoken of as a true diamond. A famous Indian captain, named
Mirghimola, made a present of it to the Grand Mogul Aurung-Zeb. It
appears that Thamas Koulikan, so celebrated under the name of Nadir
Schah, took possession of this gem, which there-
