own
private property, to be found, before his demise, in the possession of
his undutiful son ? A satisfactory answer is supplied by a reference to
the length of time required for cutting large Diamonds by the old
process. The " Eegent," half the size of the " Mogul," required two years
for the operation, although facilitated by recourse to cleavage : the "
Mogul," therefore, which, besides being of a more elaborate pattern,
was entirely ground away upon the wheel, cannot possibly be supposed to
have occupied less than double that space of time for its cutting. Now
Mirgimola took refuge at the Mogul's court in 1655, and before the end
of the next year Shah Jehan (then upwards of seventy), having fallen
dangerously ill, had been virtually deposed, and, as it were,
imprisoned by his eldest son Darà, who thus sought to make sure of the
succession. Aurungzeb took up arms against Darà, defeated him, and
proclaimed himself emperor in August, 1658. Thus, almost immediately
upon the great stone's being put into Borghis' hands, its rightful
owner had lost all control over it : in fact, had he been able or
permitted to superintend the operation, there can be no doubt his
experience and taste in such matters would have brought about a '
widely different result/
There
now remains to be considered a theory advanced by Prof. Maskelyne, and
supported by very elaborate and ingenious calculations, but in which I,
though most reluctant to differ from so high an authority, cannot
possibly acquiesce. Briefly stated it amounts to this, that the large
Diamond exhibited to Tavernier was not Mirgimola's (which he never saw
at all, it being still in the,; keeping of its second owner), but the Koh-i-noor
itself, and that he " applied to the latter the story be, had heard
about Borghis, and his mode of treating the other. To get over'the vast
discrepancy between the weights of the two, it is sug-
(m)
g
