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76 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.
compared
with its native crystal in my plate, strikingly exhibits the economy of
the precious material thus obtained. But in a historical relic like
this, the sole course that would have recommended itself to a person of
taste was the judicious one pursued some years before by Messrs.
Rundell and Bridge, in their re-cutting of the Nassack, a gem by the
way much resembling the Koh-i-noor, both. va. its native and
artificial fisgvrre. In this, by following in the traces of the "Hindoo
lapidary, amending his defects and accommodating the pattern to the
exigencies öf the subject-matter, they transformed the
rudely-facetted, lustreless mass into a Diamond of perfect brilliancy, at the sacrifice of no more than ten per cent, of its original weight.
MOGUL.
Incomparably the largest authentic specimen
of the Diamond ever yet discovered (for the genuineness of the monster
"King of Portugal's" is more than questionable) was that known by the
name of " The Mogul." It was found in the mine called by the Indians
Gani, hy the Persians Coulour, about seven days' journey distant from
Golconda, towards the year 1650, when those. mines were farmed by the
afterwards so notorious Vizier Mirgimola, or to give his name according
to- the English style, Meer Jomlah. Concerning this personage- it is
necessary to begin with a few particulars of his history, as they have
an immediate bearing upon the question of the identity of the Diamond
now under our consideration. Mirgimola, was a Persian by birth, but by
his merit had risen to the dignity of vizier and general to the King of
Golconda. He accumulated enormous wealth, principally from farming
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