body if enormous quantities of quality diamonds were unloaded on the market, and it would harm many.
It
is not by accident that practically all the outstanding stones of the
old days were found in the possession of royal personages. From very
early times, for instance, the sovereigns and ruling princes of India
took unto themselves all stones of any size that were found in their
dominions. Some writers say that any stone over thirty carats had to
be handed over, others that stones of over ten carats must be given up,
surrendered to the royal treasury. None of the accounts state, however,
whether the finder of the stone or the owner of the land received
adequate compensation.
Whether they received any sort of gift or not, ex gratia, I
feel inclined to doubt "adequateness", not because Indian princes are
less just or more rapacious than other men who can force their will on
their weaker fellows, but because I have known by personal experience
the workings of a similar ordinance. This was in the Sulu Archipelago,
where I once operated my fleet of pearling craft. The Sultan of Sulu
was entitled to have first offer of all pearls found in his territorial
waters (this applied to native fishing vessels and naked divers only,
not to white owners). The Sultan would be shown a stone of size. If he
liked the look of it he put his own price on it, and the finder had to
accept what was offered if he valued his head. If the Sultan was not
interested, the finder paid a mere ten per cent of the pearl's value
into the royal treasury, but valuation was again with His Highness.
Naturally he did not put too high a value on a stone he liked or too
low a value on one
