140 THE BRAGANZA.
the
mining district) no gems except those in the official treasury. This
expectation however was quickly dispelled, for he found diamonds to be
the current coin of the place. Even the mere word grimpiero (smuggler)
seemed to throw the inhabitants into a sort of fit; they writhed about,
smote their breasts, called upon the Virgin and all the Saints to bear
witness to their horror of this the greatest sin possible to a human
being. Yet they all smuggled diamonds, from the slave at the
washing-trough to the priest officiating at the altar. Mawe, who had
considerable influence at court, was the first mere traveler who ever
visited the mines, and it is probable that he was the only person who
ever went there without smuggling. He remarks that he found it safer to
see nothing of that which passed under his very nose.
In
order toencourage honesty among the slaves, the finders of large
diamonds were rewarded in different degrees according to the size of
the stone. The finder of an octavo (seventeen and
