THE FRENCH BLUE. 115
chief;
who looks upon it and after that gives it to him that is next him, by
which means it goes from hand to hand till it returns back to him
again, none of the rest speaking a word. After that he demands the
price so as to buy it if possible, but if he buy it too dear it is upon
his own account. In the evening the children compute what they have
laid out; then they look upon the stones and separate them according to
their water, their weight and their clearness. Then they bring them to
the large merchants who have generally great parcels to match, and the
profit is divided among the children equally. Only the chief among them
has four per cent, more than the rest."
It
may have been from some such sedate children that Tavernier bought the
Blue Diamond. At the same time he mentions the Coleroon mine as the
only one which produces colored diamonds, from which we may infer that
" the Blue " hails from that locality. As Tavernier was well-known as a
diamond-buyer who gave good prices, it is probable that he would get
many proffers of stones from private persons. With regard to another
large diamond which he bought in India, he has given a minute account
