Miscellany [pp. 340-344]

340 3115 CELLAJYY [MARCH 8,
should be able to see them. I found in this
chamber Akel-kan, chief treasurer of the
jewels, who, as we have seen, has command
of four eunuchs of the king to always watch
the jewels, who brought out two large wooden
caskets, which were overlayed with leaves of
gold, and covered with little tapestries made
expressly for the purpose, one of red and the
other of green-velvet embroidery. After these
were opened, and he had counted all the pieces
three times, a list of them was made by the
scribes which were there, for the Indians have
great circumspection about whatever they do,
and when they see any thing done in haste
they either stare at one in surprise, or else
laugh at him for a fool.
"The first piece which Akel-kan took in
his hand was the great diamond, which is a
round rose, almost as high as its width. On
its lower edge it has a small crack, and one
little flaw in the inside. Its water is beautiful, and it weighs three hundred and nineteen
and a half ratis, which are two hundred and
eighty of our carats."
Tavernier was allowed to handle the diamond himself, and made a drawing of it, which
faithfully corresponds to his description of
its form and weight.
The Mogul is often confounded with the
celebrated Koh-i-noor. Several ingenious stories have been put forth to show that the
Koh-i-noor was the stone ~een by Tavernier in
the Mogul's treasury, and that he had only
heard of the "grand diamond," the chief point
advanced being that he was mistaken in the
value of the rati. To these wild speculations
are opposed all the reasonable assumptions
in the case. In fact, Tavernier's account is
so circumstantial, and his drawing so confirmatory of the weight he assigned the
"Great Mogul," that, if we give him any credit
at all for veracity, there cannot be a particle
of doubt concerning the entire correctness of
his statement. The Koh-i-noor from the first
has always been a different-shaped stone, as
far as we have any knowledge of it, and even
before recutting by order of its present owner,
the Queen of England, was much inferior in
weight to Tavernier's "Mogul."
Unfortunately, the whereabouts of this
great jewel is at present unknown. It was
thought for a long time to have been in pos session of the Persian crown, but drawings
of the Shah's diamonds, which reached Europe
some years ago, show nothing approaching it
in appearance.
Another remarkable diamond was the
Great Table, which, like the preceding, was
/\~~~
THE GR.EAT TABLE.-(Exact size.)
seen by Tavernier during his travels in India.
This stone weighed two hundred and forty four and a half carats, and although its form;
was bad, and its brilliancy necessarily impaired by want of depth and suitable form, it
was yet of immense value.
The largest cut diamond, the whereabouts
of which is positively knIown, is the Orloff
(or Orlow, as it is sometimes called), now a
THE ORLoFr.-(Exact size.)
part of the imperial regalia of Russia. The
Orloff, as will be seen from our drawing, is
very similar in shape to the Great Mogul, being, in technical phrase, a high-crowned rose.
Its weight is one hundred and ninety-three
carats. It is a pity one cannot add that it is
of the "first water." Unfortunately, it is
not, being slightly tinged with yellow, a shade
which is always detrimental to the brilliancy
of the diamond.
The history of the Orloff is involved in
obscurity. A story is current that it originally formed one of the eyes of a great Indian
idol, from which it was stolen by a French deserter. The soldier had the address to so
successfully pretend conversion, that he was
made a priest of the temple, and, seizing a
favorable opportunity, despoiled the god and
made off with his booty. It is added that the
diamond was sold by this Frenichman to an
English captain for the insignificant sum of
two thousand pounds.
Another, and a more credible account, is
that the stone originally belonged to Nadir
Shah, being set with other jewels in his
throne, and that, on the plundering of that
conqueror's treasury after his assassination, it
fell to an Afghan, who sold it to an Armenian,
from whom it found its way to Europe.
But there is no certainty in either story.
The only thing undisputed is its purchase by
Prince Orloff, who presented it to Catharine
II. about the year 1772. It cost him a sum
equivalent in our money to about four hun dred and fifty thousand dollars, to which was
added an annuity of twenty thousand dollars
per annum during the lifetime of the seller.
The Orloff is now set in the top of the im perial sceptre.
Those who have attempted to confound
the Mogul with the Koh-i-noor, would make a
better case by substituting the Orloff for the
latter; for, as Mr. King remarks (" Precious
Stones and Metals," p. 86): "In outline it so
much resembles Tavernier's Mogul, that if
we admit the possibility of some error in his
calculation of the weight of the latter, the
Orloff may claim to be that long-lost phoenix."
This "possibility" will, however, have little
or no weight with those who know that Tav ernier's visit was chiefly made for the pur pose of purchasing diamonds. The most
ordinary acquaintance with his business
would necessarily include a full knowledge
of the value of the diamond weight of India
as compared with his own.
The last of our series, the Shah, is included not especially on account of its size,
/
THE SHAI.-(Exact size.)
being inferior in that respect to a number of
other specimens, but rather from its unique
shape-an irregular, nearly square, prism, retaining many of its original faces. It is of
perfect water, and weighs ninety-five carats,
or as some accounts have it, eighty-six.
The Shah, like the Orloff, is the property
of the Russian crown, to which it came from
Cosrhoes, a son of Abbas Mirza; some authorities say as a present; others, by purchase.
The Shah, from its unique shape and perfection of water, is a most notable diamond,
and gains additional interest from a Persian
inscription cut into one of its faces.
MISCELLANY.
Selections from Xew Books and Foreign
Journals.
THE FORMS OF WATER.
MIST AND RAIN.
ITHOUT air to breathe when brought
into the world, we could only continue
to live a few seconds; but, without water, we
could not even come to life; we could not be
organized, nor grow up to the point at which
breathing becomes necessary. Water we are,
and to water we return, quite as much as
dust we are, and to dust return. Water is,
therefore, even a more primary and indispensable element of our existence than air, if it
were possible to make a comparison between
two absolute indispensabilities.
We know air in one form only. It is more
or less dense or rare; more or less devoid of
color, according to its slight or considerable
depth; more or less laden with foreign substances, as smoke, dust, invisible vapor, visible fogs; more or less perceptible to our
senses, through its variations of heat or cold,
unfelt calm, or destructive and irresistible
motion. But it is always the same light,
transparent, elastic fluid, and it defies us to
change it into any thing else. If we decompose air into the elements of which it is a
mixture, they still remain, like itself, adriform, gaseous, or air-like.
Water, on the contrary (besides being
compounded of elements which, unlike itself,
are never either liquid or solid), puts on more
dissimilar shapes than were ever attributed
to the fabled Proteus. A fall in temrperature
of only half a degree will change tY A yielding
liquid into a rigid solid. Nor are its diverse
forms cosmopolitan in their assumption and
appearance. Not everybody has the privilege
of beholding them.
Millions of our fellow-creatures live and
die without ever having seen hail, snow, or
ice. Millions more never gaze on a glacier
during their whole allowance of threescore
years and ten. If, by good luck, they catch
sight of one, it impresses them with a new
sensation, and, if they be not "duller than
the fat weed that roots itself in ease on Lethe
wharf," inspires them with new ideas.
There are whole tribes and nations of men
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MIS CELLANVY.
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