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DIAMONDS.
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75
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of
the English it has been cut as a brilliant, being thus enhanced in
value, and beauty, though diminished in weight. The old " Iron " Duke
of Wellington was the first to place it in the mill; and it took
thirty-eight days to be cut by a lapidary working twelve hours a days,
without intermission.
The
carat grain used in weighing diamonds is different from the Troy grain,
five diamond grains being equal to four Troy grains. Four carat grains
make one carat ; and six carats, or twenty-four grains, one
pennyweight.
Respecting
the " Koh-i-noor " we have already given some particulars. When Sir
John Lawrence—the hero of Lahore, in the Indian Mutiny days,—was
Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab, he had in his keeping no less a
treasure than this famous Koh-i-noor ; and no one could have taken
better care of so precious a charge. Nevertheless there came a day when
the great Jewel was missing. The house was searched throughout ; the
police were consulted ; the servants were closely examined ; and native
fakirs pressed into the investigation ; but all to no purpose ! When
Sir John was absolutely in despair, the Diamond reappeared ; and of all
places, from an old cigar-box, which was beside the
Lieutenant-Governor's bed.
Tradition
carries back the existence of this precious Stone in the memory of
India to the year 57 B.C. The Hindoos profess to trace curses, and
ultimate ruin brought inevitably upon its successive possessors ever
since it was first wrested from the line of Vikramalitya.
During
1850, in the name of the East India Company (since, in its turn,
defunct), Lord Dalhousie presented the Koh-i-noor to Queen Victoria.
The Brahmins will
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