well.
Here, as in the case of Sir Thomas Overbury, the really innocuous
diamond material was accompanied by an actual poison. The current
belief in the poisonous quality of the diamond is reflected in the
words "mortal as diamond dust," used by Horace Walpole in one of his
letters to the Countess of Ossory.6
A
German writer of the seventeenth century quotes with admiration a
wonderful tale told by Johannes Bustamantius to the effect that he had
seen a marriage of two diamonds, the two crystals being so firmly drawn
toward each other by mutual sympathy that when they were put in one
place they would cling to one another, as with an "unending kiss," as
though one were a man and the other a woman, and he asserts that the
union was blessed with offspring. This curious idea has been repeatedly
put forth by certain of the older writers as we have had occasion to
note elsewhere.7
After
expatiating on the mechanical skill displayed by the Indians of the New
World, an early Spanish traveller gives the following details regarding
their success as gem-cutters :8
Vet
all that we have said is surpassed by the ingenuity of the Indians In
working emeralds, with which they are supplied from the coast of Manta
and the countries^ dependent on the government of Atacames, Coaquis or
Qnaqnes. But these mines are now entirely lost, very probably through
negligence. These curious emeralds are found in the tombs of the
Indians of Manta and Atacames; and are, in beauty, size and hardness
superior to those found in the district of Santa Fé; but what chiefly
raises the admiration of the connoisseur is, to find them worked, some
in spherical, some cylindrical, some conical, and of various other
figures; and all with a perfect accuracy.
• See Wilt's " History of India," vol. ii, p. 197. Cited in Lean's Collectanea, vol. ii, Pt. II, Bristol, 1903, p. 641.
TC.
G. Jentech, "Dissertatio physico-historica de gemmis," Lipsie, 1706, p.
19. See also the present writer's " The Curious Lore of Precious
Stones," Philadelphia and London, 1913, p. 41.
* Ulloa's
Voyage to South America, trans, of John Adams, in Pinkerton'» Voyages
and Travels, vol. xiv, London, 1813, p. 546.
