82 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.
gested that Tavernier was in error- as to the rati in which that of the " Mogul " is estimated, and confounded the pearl-rati with the jeweller's grati, thus,
nearly doubling the sum of the 320 ratis, the Indian weight of the
stone shown him, and bringing it up to the 240 carats" given by him,
instead of the actual 184 of the Koh-i-noor.* All this assertion rests
on the single fact that Baber states the weight of the great Diamond
captured -by Humayun, which all agree to be the Koh-i-noor, at 8
miscals = 320 ratis : whilst the stone seen by Tavernier was precisely
of that weight, although by his estimating the rati at seven-eighths of
a carat, he brings up the sum to the excess already specified. Against
this solitary argument a whole host of others are to be opposed. The
stone Tavernier so carefully examined with all the attention its unique
character and history would naturally excite in him, was circular,
rose-cut, very deep, of fine water, with but one little crack
externally, and one flaw internally, and the work upon it that of an
European lapidary; whereas the Koh-i-noor was in outline an irregular
ellipse, facetted to no definite pattern, very flat, exhibited no more water than
a bit of rock-crystal, had several flaws, besides a large deficiency or
fracture at one end, and rude grooves cut in the sides, whilst all the
work upon it was of that peculiar character which the least experienced
eye would detect at once as that of a Hindoo diamond-cutter, t
