THE BRAGANZA. 137
for
it was always kept secluded in the strongest safe of the Treasure
Chamber. The Prince showed some of his diamonds to Mawe, but the latter
in an emphatic foot-note says " I did not see this diamond (the
Braganza) when in Brazil." On gala days John wore the royal gem around
his neck, and for the purpose of suspension it had a small hole
drilled through the top. A large rough diamond nearly a pound in
weight, hanging from the neck by a string of gold, would seem to our
thinking to be rather a barbaric ornament for a civilized monarch to
wear.
The
diamond mines of Brazil, which were discovered in 1727, yielded an
extraordinarily rich harvest during the first years of tillage. In
1732, no less than eleven thousand ounces of these precious stones were
shipped from Rio to Lisbon. But this influx of diamonds created
something like a panic among the merchants of Europe, and to save their
precious goods from a disastrous fall in price they formed a league of
defamation. All kinds of reports were cir-
