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THE KOH-I-NUR. 93
The
defeated Mogul gave an unheard-of quantity of jewels to Nadir Shah "
who was at first reluctant to receive them, but at length consented to
place the seal of his acceptance upon the mirror of his request." Such
reluctance is very foreign to the generally rapacious and grasping
character of Nadir Shah, and probably existed only in the flowery
imagination of the writer of his life.
Having
become aware that the Koh-i-nur was not among the treasures he had
already sealed with his acceptance, Nadir Shah set about hunting for
it, and at last a traitor was found who betrayed the secret of its
hiding-place. A woman from the harem told the Persian king that the
coveted diamond lay hidden in the folds of Mohammed's turban, which he
never took off. Nadir accordingly one day invited his helpless friend,
Mohammed, to exchange turbans with him in sign of their everlasting
friendship. As in the time of the first free-will offering to Baber two
centuries before, the Koh-i-nur was
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