CHAPTER XVII

SOME FAMOUS AND WONDERFUL DIAMONDS AND THEIR STORIES

THE KOH-I-NOOR: PITT OR REGENT: THE ORLOFF: THE SANCY: THE BLUE HOPE: THE PAUL THE FIRST: THE DRESDEN: THE NIZAM: THE CUMBERLAND: THE NAPOLEON: THE EUGENIE: THE POLAR STAR: THE SHAH: THE MOON OF THE MOUNTAINS: AKBAR SHAH, OR THE SHEPHERD’S STONE: THE RIVER OF LIGHT: THE GRAND MOGUL: THE GRAND TABLE: THE NASSAK: THE PIGOTT: THE PACHA: THE TUSCANY: THE STAR OF ESTE: THE WHITE SAXON: THE GREAT WHITE: THE MATTAM: THE STAR OF THE SOUTH: THE ENGLISH DRESDEN: THE DE BEERS DIAMONDS: THE STAR OF SOUTH AFRICA: THE JUBILEE: THE STAR OF AFRICA OR THE CULLINAN: THE BRAGANZA: THE TIFFANY: STAR OF MINAS: THE ARABIAN “DEATH”: THE MOONSTONE.

“_Jewels Of rich and exquisite form: their value great._” SHAKESPEARE.

THE KOH-I-NOOR

This famous stone is said by Dr. Brewer to have been found in the Golconda mine in the year 1550, but Dr. G. F. Herbert Smith states that it was known as far back as 1304, “when it fell into the hands of the Mogul emperors, and legend traces it back some four thousand years previously.” Mr. Emanuel says that the Hindu accounts “deduce it from the time of the God Krischna,” while Mr. King states that it was turned up by a peasant when ploughing in a field 40 miles distant from Golconda, “and was in its rough state fully as large as a hen’s egg.” The traveller Tavernier saw it amongst the jewels of the great Mogul King Aurungzebe. This was after it had been badly cut and unskillfully reduced by Hortensio Borgio from 793 carats to 186-1/16 carats. According to Tavernier its original weight was 787½ carats. Borgio’s work so angered Aurungzebe that he deprived the unfortunate cutter of all his possessions, grudgingly allowing him to escape with his life. The Koh-i-Noor had an evil reputation amongst the Hindus who held that it “produced inordinate greed, viciousness and various misfortunes on the King who possessed it.” In 1739 Nadir Shah sacked Delhi and took the gem from Mohammed Shah, naming it the “Koh-i-Noor,” or “Mountain of Light.” Returning victorious to Persia, Nadir Shah was murdered by his officers. One of these, Ahmed Shah Doorannee, founded the Afghan kingdom, and the last of his dynasty Shah Sujah was starved into surrendering the stone to Runjeet Singh. The latter when dying sent it to the Temple of Juggernaut. His successors, however, would not let it remain there, and when the British annexed the Punjaub in 1849 it was presented by Lord Dalhousie on behalf of the East India Company to Queen Victoria and, writes Mr. King, “within ten years the usual consequences of its possession were manifested in the Sepoy revolt and the all but total loss of India to the British Crown in which beams its malignant lustre, lighting up a very inauspicious future for that region, fated ever apparently to be disturbed by the measures of ignorant zealots at home and the plots of discontented and over-powerful allies in the country itself.” The Koh-i-Noor was recut in 1862 by Mr. Coster of Amsterdam, losing 80 carats in the cutting. The weight of the stone is now given as 106-1/16 carats, and its value is estimated at £100,000 sterling, by Dr. G. F. Herbert Smith, and at £120,664 Sterling by Dr. Brewer. It was believed that all diseases could be cured by the water in which the Koh-i-Noor had been placed. The stone could never be fortunate for India according to astro-philosophy because India is a Saturnine country ruled by the celestial Capricorn. It is more fortunate for England because England is a martial country ruled by the celestial Aries.

PITT OR REGENT DIAMOND

This famous gem, bought in Golconda from an Indian merchant by William Pitt, grandfather of the Earl of Chatham, and said to have been originally stolen, was found at Gani-Puteal, 150 miles from Golconda in 1701. Mr. Pitt gave £20,400 sterling for the gem which weighed 410 carats, and returning to England he had it recut at a cost of £5,000 and two years’ work. In this process the weight of the stone was reduced to 163⅞ carats, the fragments when sold returning £2,000 over the cost of cutting. Possession of this gem worried Mr. Pitt who sold it to the Duc d’Orleans, regent of France, whence it obtained the name “Regent,” for £135,000 sterling. It was stolen from the Garde-Meuble when the Sun was in the Diamond sign Leo, August 17th, 1792, and was mysteriously returned. Napoleon Bonaparte, who had the Sun in the sign Leo—the sign of France—at his birth, had the Regent set in the pommel of his sword. It was exhibited at the French Exhibition in 1855, and is now shown in the Apollo Gallery of the Louvre, Paris. During the attempted advance on Paris in the late war, it is stated that one of the French ministers took the Regent with him to Bordeaux whence the danger being passed, it was afterwards returned to its honoured place in the capital city of France. Its value is stated at £480,000 sterling.

THE ORLOFF DIAMOND

This gem was stolen by a French soldier from a temple near Trichinopoli in Mysore, where it was set as an eye stone in the statue of Brahma. The weight of the stone, which is rose cut, is 194¾ carats. The soldier sold it to an English ship’s captain for £2,000—Mr. Emanuel says £2,800—and the captain sold it to a London dealer for £12,000 sterling. It was afterwards sold to Prince Orloff, whence it obtained its name, for £90,000 sterling, and an annual pension of £4,000. The Prince presented it to Empress Katherine who had it set as an ornament at the top of the imperial sceptre. This large diamond was a stone of ill omen for Russia, a country ruled by the celestial Aquarius and opposed to the diamond sign Leo. When we reflect, in harmony with celestial philosophy, that the late Czar Nicholas II, the last of the Romanoffs, had the sign Leo in the 12th heavenly mansion at birth we can only see in the Orloff diamond the symbol of sorrow and restraint.

THE SANCY DIAMOND

Few historical objects surpass the beautiful Sancy Diamond in romance and importance. Its origin is involved in uncertainty prior to the early 15th Century. The first definite account concerning the famous gem states that after the battle of Nancy, January 5th, 1477, it was taken from the dead body of Charles the Bold, by a Swiss soldier. Charles adorned his dress with many diamonds, the Sancy holding the place of honour. The soldier not knowing the value of the gem he had stolen sold it to a minister of religion for a gulden. The minister sold it some years later to a dealer in Lucerne for 5,000 ducats. King Manoel, known as the Fortunate, of Portugal, purchased it in 1495, two years before he dispatched the navigator Vasco da Gama, on his voyage of discovery. Don Antonio, known as Prince of Crato and King of Portugal in partibus, sold the gem to Nicolas de Harlai Sieur de Sancy, whence it obtained its name. As the friend and treasurer of Henry IV of France, the Sieur in order to aid the King to protect his crown, raised a loan for him on the security of the stone, from the bankers of Metz. The servant entrusted with the safe delivery of the diamond being waylaid by robbers, swallowed his master’s precious gem to protect it; the thieves in fury at being unable to discover the stone, on the person or in the baggage, of the loyal servant, murdered him. The Sieur evidently knew what his messenger would do in an extremity, and he afterwards recovered the gem from the body of the murdered man. It was next sold to the English Crown when it was worn by Queen Elizabeth. It remained in possession of the Crown, and is mentioned in the Tower inventory of March 22nd, 1605, until the reign of James II, who took it when he fled to France to seek asylum at the court of the Grand Monarque. James then sold the Sancy to his sympathetic friend Louis, for £25,000 sterling. Another account states that the Sancy came into the possession of Cardinal Mazarin who had it recut and included amongst the twelve famous diamonds in the Crown of France, known as the Mazarins. Robert de Berquem says that Queen Henrietta Maria proudly wore it (“Merveilles des Indes,” 1669). Louis XV it is recorded, wore the Sancy at his coronation in 1715, and his Queen, Maria Lesczynska, daughter of the dethroned Polish King, Stanislas, afterwards wore it as a necklace pendant. When Marie Antoinette became Queen of France she had this royal pendant taken from the necklace and mounted in brooch form. With the tragic end of the unhappy Queen some uncertainty follows the wanderings of the Sancy. It is stated that the widow of Charles IV of Spain gave it to the “Prince of Peace,” Manuel de Godoi, Duke of Alcudia. One account states that Godoi sold it to Napoleon, another that Godoi’s son after vainly endeavouring to induce Louis XVIII to purchase it in 1822, sold it to Prince Demidoff. The Prince sold it to Monsieur Levrat, Director of the Society of Mines and Forges of Grisons, Switzerland, for £24,000. A dispute over the price led to an action at law and a verdict in favour of the Prince on June 1st, 1832.

The stone was afterwards purchased by Sir Jamisetjee Jeejeebhoy in 1865, from the family of Prince Demidoff. It was sent from Bombay to London by Messrs. Forbes & Co., the agents for Sir Jamisetjee Jeejeebhoy, and was exhibited by M. M. Bapst at the Paris Exposition of 1867. During the tour of King George (when Prince of Wales) in India, the Sancy is said to have been worn at the Great Durba by the Marajah of Puttiali. In 1892 the beautiful gem passed into the possession of the Astor family it having been purchased by the Hon. William Waldorf Astor for his wife, Mary, daughter of James W. Paul, Esq., of Philadelphia, U. S. A. It now passes into the hands of the Right Hon. Viscountess Astor who wore it on taking her seat as the first lady elected as a member of the House of Commons. The writer is indebted to Lady Astor for her kindly interest in this book, and for a presentation of a handsome volume on the Sancy Diamond by William Waldorf Astor, published in 1892. The Sancy Diamond is described by Dr. Smith as of an almond shape, covered all over with tiny facets by Indian lapidaries. The weight is given as 53½ to 53¾ carats.

Considered astrologically a diamond would be unfortunate for Charles the Bold who was born at Dijon 10th November, 1435. It would be considered fortunate for Henry IV of France in whose horoscope the planet Jupiter was ascending in the sign Libra. Jupiter being in the 12th Heavenly Mansion would be considered fortunate for secret negotiations and diplomacy, and it is worthy of notice that the Sancy Diamond should be employed as a powerful helper in these very matters. The sign of the Lion, the sign of France, is also on the Mid Heaven of the King’s nativity, and Leo is distinctly a diamond and Royal sign. It was a truly fortunate gem for King James II of England whose horoscope is here shown with the Royal Lion ascending.

THE HOPE DIAMOND

Dr. G. F. Herbert Smith says of this gem that it is of “a steely or greenish blue, not the royal blue colour of the glass models supposed to represent it.” If the accepted history of the stone be true, it must be regarded as a strange specimen. It was stated to have been discovered at the Kollur mines, and to have been purchased by Tavernier in 1642. In 1668, Tavernier interested Louis XIV in the gem so much that he purchased it. After this the fortunes of the great traveller began to change. His son defrauded him of a large sum of money, and he was later, being a Protestant, compelled by the Edict of Nantes (1685) to fly from France and seek protection in Switzerland. Thence he went to Berlin, where the Elector of Brandenburg offered him the Directorship in a projected East India Company. In the endeavor to find a road through Russia to India, Tavernier left Berlin, but he succumbed to fatigue and financial worry soon after, dying, it is said, in want, in his 84th year at Moscow. After wearing this diamond at a Court Ball, Madame de Montespan lost the favour of her Royal lover. It was a stone of ill fortune for Marie Antoinette, to whom, however, all diamonds were unfortunate. After the tragic death of Louis XVI and his Queen, the stone was stolen with the French regalia. Afterwards it is stated to have been stolen from Fals, the Dutch gem cutter, by his son. Fals died a broken-hearted man, and his son, after selling the gem to Francois Beaulieu, went insane and killed himself. Beaulieu, after selling the stone to Daniel Eliason, a London dealer, died suddenly the following day. Mr. Eliason sold it to Mr. Thomas Philip Hope, the banker, in 1830 for £18,000 sterling. Mr. Hope’s grandson, Lord Henry Francis Hope, married the Australian actress, Miss May Yohe, in 1894. This lady wore the diamond and misfortune followed her. In 1901 Lord Hope was glad to sell the stone to Mr. Weil, a London diamond merchant, who, without waiting for its influence to affect him, sold it immediately to Mr. Simon Frankel, jeweller, of New York, who suffered financial hardships consequent on the difficulty of finding a purchaser. At last he sold it to Mr. Jacques Colot, a French dealer in gems, and with it went his troubles also. Monsieur Colot quickly sold the gem to the Russian Prince, Kanitovski, and, it is stated, became insane and died mysteriously a few weeks afterwards. The Prince lent it to Mademoiselle Lorens Laduc of the Folies Bergeres, with whom he was in love. As she wore it one night on the stage the Prince in a mad fit shot her. A few days later he was himself stabbed to death by some members of a secret political club. The Blue Terror next came into the possession of the Greek jeweller, Simon Montharides, who, after having sold it to the Sultan, Adbul Hamid, was killed by accident with his wife and two children whilst driving. Abu Sabir, the Sultan’s lapidary, was entrusted with the polishing of the jewel, and whilst he had it he accidentally destroyed a large pearl belonging to Abdul Hamid, who ordered him to be severely flogged and cast into prison. A little later the keeper of the Sultan’s jewels was found murdered, and his successor was hanged by a mob in a street of Constantinople. The Sultan’s favourite, Salama Zubayba, incurred his anger by wearing the blue gem and the infuriated ruler shot her as Prince Kanitovski had shot Lorens Laduc. All diamonds, however, would be unfortunate for Abdul Hamid. The diamond then fell into the hands of the Turkish revolutionary party and was sold by them to Senor Habib, a rich Spaniard, who was drowned in the wreck of the French mail steamer, Seyne, off Singapore. The gem was not lost with its owner, and was later sold to Messrs. Cartier Bros, of Paris and New York by Monsieur Rosenau, a well-known diamond merchant. In 1911 it was bought by Mr. Edward McLean, proprietor of the “Washington Post,” for £52,000 sterling, from Cartier Bros. It is said that both Mr. and Mrs. McLean were doubtful about the wisdom of purchasing this stone of ill omen which, according to report, had been previously refused by the Court of England on account of its evil reputation. Misfortunes quickly followed the new owners, culminating with the tragic death of little Vinson Walsh McLean, their only son, who was knocked down and killed by a motor car close to his father’s estate. After leaving the possession of the McLean family this stone found a purchaser in Monsieur de Hautville. Within three months the same peculiar misfortune which had befallen its previous owners befell them. Madame de Hautville, sharing the same fate as little Vinson McLean, was killed by a motor car whilst crossing a street in Paris. Following on this the eldest son, having taken poison by mistake, died in terrible agony. Mademoiselle de Hautville was accidentally drowned and the younger son whilst out shooting was blinded by the explosion of his gun. Quickly the de Hautvilles parted with this peculiar gem of ill omen. Where will it next find a home? The weight of the Hope diamond when sold by Tavernier to Louis XIV was 67 carats; its present weight is 44½ carats. It presents a curious psychical study and an undeniable evidence of fatal influence which it would indeed be difficult to explain away.

THE PAUL THE FIRST

This diamond is described as a brilliant red, weighing 10 carats. It was one of the Russian Crown jewels, being purchased by Emperor Paul the First for 100,000 roubles. It was a stone of ill omen for both Paul and Russia. He was murdered in 1801, and in his nativity the planet Neptune was, as in that of Marie Antoinette, in the sign Leo, accompanied by unfortunate planetary afflictions.

THE DRESDEN

The Dresden diamond which is in the Green Vaults at Dresden is described as of the purest apple-green colour. Authorities differ as to its weight, which is variously given at 40 and 48½ carats. It is stated that the gem was purchased by Augustus the Strong in 1743 for 60,000 thalers, but this Augustus died of an old wound in 1733. It was probably his son Frederick Augustus III who died at Dresden in 1763.

THE NIZAM

This gem which belonged to the Nizam of Hyderabad was, to judge by its particular native cutting, probably employed in certain sex mysteries. Its weight is 340 carats, and strangely enough, it fractured just before the Indian Mutiny. The diamond is not a stone of harmony for India.

THE CUMBERLAND

After the battle of Culloden (1746) the city of London presented this diamond, which weighed 32 carats and cost £10,000, to the Duke of Cumberland. During Queen Victoria’s reign the stone was claimed by the City of Hanover, to which place it was sent by the Queen’s command.

THE NAPOLEON

This diamond which was bought by Napoleon Buonaparte for £8,000 sterling was worn by him when he married Josephine in 1796.

EUGENIE

This gem was purchased by Katherine II of Russia, who gave it to Potemkin. It is a very pure gem of 51 carats. Napoleon III gave it to Eugenie as a wedding gift. Afterwards it came into the possession of the Gaekwar of Baroda.

THE POLAR STAR

This brilliant jewel formed one of the chief ornaments in the Russian regalia. The weight is given as 40 carats.

THE SHAH

The Shah diamond was given to the Czar of Russia by the Persian prince Chosroes in 1843. It is a flawless, pure gem which originally weighed 95 carats and was engraved with the names of three distinguished Shahs of Persia. In the recutting this engraving was eliminated and the stone reduced to 86 carats.

MOON OF THE MOUNTAINS

Nadir Shah, having stolen this gem from Delhi, it was after his assassination taken by a soldier who sold it to Shaffras, an Armenian. It was included in the Russian Crown jewels. Many diamonds adorned the regalias of Russia, but they are no more fortunate to Russia than they are to India.

AKBAR SHAH, SHEPHERD’S STONE

This gem belonged to Akbar, the Great Mogul, and was formerly engraved with Arabic writing. After having been lost for some years it was identified as the Turkish Shepherd’s Stone. It originally weighed 116 carats, and was reduced by cutting in the elimination of the engraving to 71 carats. It was purchased by the Gaekwar of Baroda for £23,330 sterling.

RIVER OF LIGHT

This beautiful rose diamond of 186 carats was seized by Nadir Shah at Delhi. It adorns the Persian regalia and is known as the Darya-i-Nor, or River of Light.

GRAND MOGUL

This remarkable diamond was seen by Tavernier amongst the jewels of the Emperor Auranzeb in 1665, five years after its recorded discovery in the Golconda mines. Its original weight is given as 787 carats by some records and as 787½ by others. This was greatly reduced in cutting to a rose shape by Hortensio Borgio when, it is said on account of numerous flaws, it lost 547 carats. Tavernier describes it as “rounded rose cut, taller on one side.” The present whereabouts of the “Grand Mogul” is unknown.

THE GRAND TABLE

This gem is also recorded by Tavernier who saw it at Golconda in 1642. Its weight is given at somewhat over 242 carats. Where it now is, is not known.

THE NASSAK

This gem which came from the Deccan loot was sold in London in 1837. Mr. Emanuel, into whose possession it came, sold it later to the Duke of Westminster for £7,200 sterling. Its original pear-shaped form was altered to triangular, an operation which left the weight at 78⅝ carats.

THE PIGOTT

Lord Pigott obtained this stone in India in 1775, and disposed of it for £30,000 sterling. The weight is given as 47½ carats. Ali Pacha, the last owner of the gem, left instructions to destroy it at his death, and his wishes are said to have been respected.

THE PACHA

This brilliant of 40 carats is mentioned as having been acquired by Ibrahim Pacha for £28,000 sterling. Very little seems to be known about it.

THE TUSCANY

This yellow-tinged stone, of double rose cut and 133¾ carats, was formerly in the possession of the Dukes of Tuscany. Mr. King states that, being mistaken for a piece of yellow quartz, it was purchased for a trifle at a bric-a-bric stall in Florence.

STAR OF ESTE

This diamond which weighs 25½ carats is mentioned by Dr. Smith “for its perfection of form and quality.” It belonged to the ill-starred Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

WHITE SAXON

The White Saxon is a square gem, 48¾ carats in weight, for which Augustus the Strong is said to have given a million thalers.

THE GREAT WHITE

This large, clear diamond is also known as the Imperial or Victoria. Its weight before cutting is given as 457 carats, and after cutting at 180 carats. The Nizam of Hyderabad purchased it for £20,000 sterling in 1884.

THE MATTAM

The Mattam is a pear-shaped diamond of the purest water, recently—and probably still—in the possession of the Rajah of Mattam. Found in 1760—Dr. Smith says 1787—at Landak, Borneo, it is held responsible for much worldly trouble. Its weight is stated as 367 carats. Mr. Emanuel says: “The Dutch Governor of Batavia offered two gun-boats with stores and ammunition complete and £50,000 sterling for it: but the offer was refused, the Rajah replying that on its possession depended the fortunes of his family.” Its genuineness is doubted by Dr. Smith.

THE STAR OF THE SOUTH

This most perfect brilliant was discovered at Bagagem in July, 1853. It is said to be the largest Brazilian diamond yet found. It weighed 254½ carats in the rough, and 125½ carats when cut by Mr. Coster of Amsterdam. Although not perfectly white, it is regarded as one of the finest large diamonds of the day. £40,000 sterling was paid for it before cutting.

THE ENGLISH DRESDEN

This brilliant was also found at Bagagem in Brazil four years after the “Star of the South.” Its weight before cutting was 119½ carats, which was reduced in cutting to 76½ carats. Its present form is an egg-like oval drop.

THE DE BEERS DIAMONDS

These were discovered in the famous De Beers mine; the first, a pale yellow, 428½ carats in the rough, 228½ when cut, in 1888; the next 503¼ carats, of similar hue, in 1896. Some others weigh 302, 409 carats, etc.

THE STAR OF SOUTH AFRICA

This gem was found in the Vaal River diggings in 1869. Weight before cutting was 83½ carats, after cutting 46½ carats. It is triangular in shape, and was bought by the Countess of Dudley for £25,000 sterling.

THE JUBILEE

This faultless brilliant was found in the Jagersfontein mine in 1895. Before cutting, its weight was 634 carats; after cutting, 239 carats. The Jubilee was exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1900.

THE STAR OF AFRICA

This remarkable stone was discovered in the Premier mine near Pretoria, January 25th, 1905. It was named the “Cullinan,” after the chairman of the Premier Company, Sir T. M. Cullinan. It was renamed the “Star of Africa,” at the desire of King George V. Dr. Smith writes as follows with regard to it: “The rough stone weighed 3025¾ carats (about 1⅓ lbs.): it displayed three natural faces and one large cleavage face, and its shape suggested that it was a portion of an enormous stone more than double its size: it is transparent, colourless, and has only one small flaw near the surface. This magnificent diamond was purchased by the Transvaal Government for £150,000 sterling and presented to King Edward VII on his birthday, November 9th, 1907. Messrs. I. J. Asscher & Co. of Amsterdam, cut from this a drop brilliant 516½ carats, a square brilliant 309-3/16 carats, another drop brilliant 92 carats, a square-shaped brilliant 62 carats, a heart-shaped stone 18⅜ carats, two marquises 8-9/16 and 11¼carats, an oblong stone 6⅝ carats, a drop brilliant 4-9/32 carats, and 96 small brilliants weighing together 7⅜ carats: the total weight of the cut stones amounts to 1036-5/32 carats.” The large drop brilliant adorns the sceptre, the large square brilliant the crown. The “Star of Africa” comes from the mine to adorn the regalia of the British sovereigns. It has no record of evil, no doubtful past, nor is it tainted with evil desires, violence or sorrow.

THE BRAGANZA

This stone, the weight of which is given as 1680 carats, is in the Portuguese regalia. It is believed, on good grounds, to be a large white topaz.

THE TIFFANY

This orange-tinted brilliant which was found at Kimberley, South Africa, in 1878, is in the possession of Messrs. Tiffany. Its weight is given as 125⅜ carats.

STAR OF MINAS

This stone was discovered at Bagagem in Brazil, in 1911. Its weight in the rough is given as 174¾ carats.

THE ARABIAN DEATH

The first Earl Lytton became possessed of a fine diamond on which were engraved certain Arabic words, and his death which took place soon after he had obtained possession of it has been attributed to its malignant influence. The gem was bequeathed by Earl Lytton to Madame la Comtesse Greffuhle, who showed it to a learned Indian Prince who was in Paris at the time. After reading the mysterious Arab words the Prince told the Comtesse that it was a stone of death, and advised her not to keep it. The lady, desiring to end the power of the stone for mischief, threw it into the river Seine from the Pont Neuf.

THE MOONSTONE

The famous novel by Mr. Wilkie Collins entitled “The Moonstone,” is based on the histories of “the magnificent stone which adorns the top of the Russian imperial sceptre, once the eye of an Indian Idol,” and the Koh-i-Noor. Some writers confuse this Moonstone with the well-known orthoclase feld-spar. The following extract from the Prologue of Mr. Collins’s book states: “The earliest known traditions describe the stone as having been set in the forehead of the four-handed Indian God who typifies the Moon. Partly from its peculiar colour, partly from a superstition which represents it as feeling the influence of the Deity whom it adorned, and growing and lessening in lustre with the waxing and waning of the Moon, it first gained the name by which it continues to be known in India to this day—the name of the Moonstone. A similar superstition was once prevalent, as I have heard, in ancient Greece and Rome: not applying, however, as in India to a diamond devoted to the service of a god, but to a semi-transparent stone of the inferior order of gems supposed to be affected by the lunar influences—the Moon, in this latter case also, giving the name by which the stone is still known. The adventures of the Yellow Diamond began with the 11th century of the Christian era. At that date the Mohammedan conqueror Mahmoud of Ghizni crossed India: seized on the holy city of Somnauth and stripped of its treasures the famous temple ... the Moon God alone escaped the rapacity of the conquering Mohammedans.... An age followed another until the first years of the 8th Christian century saw the reign of Aurungzebe, Emperor of the Moguls. At his command havoc and rapine were let loose.... The shrine of the four-handed God was polluted ... and the Moonstone was seized by an officer of rank in the army of Aurungzebe ... The warrior who had committed the sacrilege perished miserably. The Diamond fell into the possession of Tippo, Sultan of Seringapatam, who caused it to be placed as an ornament in the handle of his dagger—and after, General Baird himself found the dead body of Tippo under a heap of slain.” (See Koh-i-Noor, Regent, Orloff.)