SOME DIAMOND STORIES.

BY ELLA RODMAN CHURCH.

Every one knows that the diamond is the hardest and most valuable of all precious stones; but every one does not know why it is always said to weigh so many carats. The kirut is a small Indian seed, used in India for weighing diamonds, and it weighs itself about four grains, so that six carats are equal to a pennyweight.

The diamond mines of Golconda have been known all over the world for hundreds of years; and the largest stone ever found in them is the famous Koh-i-noor, or Mountain of Light, so called from its great size and brilliancy, for it weighed nine hundred carats. A Venetian diamond-cutter chipped away at it as though he had been sharpening a pencil, because it was not even in shape—the idiot!—until he left only two hundred and eighty carats of it. After being worn, it is said, for thousands of years, by the monarchs of India, it came into the possession of Queen Victoria; and it was again cut and polished, at an expense of about forty thousand dollars. There are only one hundred and twenty-three carats left of it now, but it is said to be worth seven hundred thousand dollars.

A great many stories are told about this wonderful diamond; and if it could only write its own history, the account would certainly be worth reading. It belonged to many different princes of India, one of whom would often take it by cheating, and even murder, from another; and this happened among the rest:

"The King of Lahore having heard that the King of Cabool possessed a diamond that had belonged to the Great Mogul, the largest and purest known, he invited the fortunate owner to his court; and there, having him in his power, demanded the diamond. The guest, however, had provided himself against such a contingency with a perfect imitation of the coveted jewel. After some show of resistance, he reluctantly acceded to the wishes of his powerful host. The delight of Runjeet was extreme, but of short duration, the lapidary to whom he gave orders to mount his new acquisition pronouncing it to be merely a bit of crystal. The mortification and rage of the despot were unbounded. He immediately caused the palace of the King of Cabool to be invested and ransacked from top to bottom. But for a long while all search was vain; at last a slave betrayed the secret—the diamond was found concealed beneath a heap of ashes."

The largest diamond now to be seen in the world belongs to a Rajah of Borneo, and weighs three hundred and sixty-seven carats. It is shaped like an egg, and is very pure and beautiful. For this three ounces of diamond the owner once refused to take in exchange two large war vessels completely equipped, and one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in money!

The next largest is the Orloff, or Grand Russian, of one hundred and ninety-three carats, which also has quite a history. It belonged first to the Great Mogul, and then to Nadir, the Shah of Persia, who was assassinated in 1747. At his death the great diamond disappeared, and no one could tell what had become of it, until many years afterward it was offered for sale in the city of Amsterdam. No one there could afford such an expensive ornament, which was fit only for royalty, and the English and Russian governments both tried to get possession of it. The Empress Catherine came off conqueror, her agent, Count Orloff, paying for it four hundred and fifty thousand rubles in cash, and a grant of Russian nobility. This diamond, although not perfect in shape, is of wonderful clearness and lustre, and as large as a pigeon's egg.

A Frenchman named Tavernier visited the mines of Golconda as long ago as 1677, and was much interested in watching the finding and sale of diamonds. The laborers who search for them have to be closely watched, as they will secrete valuable ones in the most ingenious ways, even swallowing them, and one miner hid a stone of two carats in the corner of his eye.

This traveller describes a group of boy traders who assembled every morning under a large tree in the middle of a village near the mines to wait for people with diamonds to sell. The boys were from ten to sixteen years old, and each one had his diamond weight in a bag on one side of his girdle, and a purse with considerable money in it on the other. When a diamond is offered, it is handed to the eldest boy, who examines it carefully, and passes it to his neighbor, who does the same, and hands it to the next, and so on through the group. It then returns to the head of the little band, who makes the bargain for it. If the others think he has given too much for it, he has to keep the stone on his own account.

In the evening the diamonds bought during the day are classed according to their size and purity, and the prices affixed which they are thought to be worth; the children return with them to their masters, and receive a good share of the profits, the head boy getting one-fourth more than the others.

SOMEBODY IS COMING.