190	Gem Trader
	Before I mention the other stone, the green diamond noted above, you may like to know something about Tavernier, whose name has been given several times al­ready in these pages. This intrepid traveller, gem expert, trader and adventurer in the best sense of the word, Jean Baptiste Tavernier, was born in 1605 at Antwerp. His father, Gabriel Tavernier, was by profession a geographer —a maker of maps and an engraver. Perhaps it was this paternal factor which in some way created in the young Jean Baptiste a desire to travel. Having journeyed much in Europe, Tavernier seized an opportunity which pre­sented itself to travel in the company of two French priests, possibly missionaries, to Constantinople and thence to Persia. That was in 1631. In 1638 he made a second journey, this time visiting Persia and India, trading in jewels and precious stones wherever he went. He must have been what nowadays is called a good mixer, for he seems to have experienced no great difficulty in bringing himself and his wares to the notice of the most eminent persons. Then he made a third journey, which took him to Java, whence he returned to Europe via the Cape. Dur­ing so much travelling and trading he must have acquired an immense fund of practical knowledge on matters con­nected with precious stones, and aided by a natural flair, he became a foremost authority on all that concerned gems. At any rate, the splendour-loving Louis XIV be­came one of his patrons, and it was said that by the sale of jewels to the King alone Tavernier made a profit of £ 100,000. To wealth was added, in 1669, a title of nobil­ity, and he purchased in 1670 the Barony of Aubanne near