THE GREAT MOGUL.
I
F the Sanci be the
Sphinx of diamonds the Great Mogul may not inaptly be called the Meteor
among them. Like those brilliant visitants in the skies, it flashes
suddenly upon us in all its splendor and as suddenly disappears in
total darkness leaving not a trace behind. So utterly has it vanished
from our ken that some writers deny its independent existence. And this
they do in the face of the minute description of the greatest
diamond-merchant and expert of his century, who actually held the stone
in his hand! The hard-headed practical Tavernier was not likely to have
dreamed that he saw the Great Mogul, nor is it likely that a
diamond-merchant of his experience could have made any gross mistake as
to its weight or its charac-198