here I also present a very easie and most certain one in favour of the curious Some imagine that the Indians and Merchants who employ Workmen in the Diamond Mines are ignorant o◠these Rules as also of all Arithmetick but without reason for on the contrary they are so experienced therein that having the Rules alwayes in their head there is not the least young boy of fifteen years of age who is not able to give an account on the sudden without Pen or Paper of the most difficult question that can be put to him Besides as it is more difficult to judge of the water of a Stone and of the points and flaws that may be found therein when it is rough than when it is wrought these Indians shew themselves much more knowing than we to know the price of any Stone whatsoever which they are able to tell presently by calculating with themselves without Pen or Chalk which is enough to make their sagacity to be admired this is then the Rule they make use of as well as we They take a Stone of 10 Carats which they multiply by the number of 10 the Product whereof is 100. Afterwards they consider the Stone whether it be clean and perfect or if there be any defect in it if it be perfect say they if we had one Stone perfect of one Carat onely in weight it would be worth for example according to its perfection from 40 to 60 Crowns If the water of it be not good or if there be any flaw or ice in a Stone of one Carat of the same nature it would not be worth for example above from 10 to 30 Crowns then they multiply again the aforesaid product of 100 by so much as they judge the Carat worth and that which is the product of this is the price of the Stone proposed Let this then be the example of a perfect Stone of 10 Carats at the rate of 60 Crowns the Carat This an example of a Stone of 15 which may have some imperfection at 20 Crowns the Carat The Indians have the same Rule onely they transpose the multiplication for they multiply first of all the price of a Carat of the Stone propounded by the number of Carats it weighs and the product again by the number of the aforesaid Carats Let this be the Example following Another Example 4. For the satisfaction of such as would go to the Mines we must speak also something of the ways that lead to them which modern relations somewhat fabulous make so dangerous and difficult and represent them to us pestered with Tygers Lyons and Cruel Men but Travellers have found the contrary excepting onely some Wild Beasts the Inhabitants being courteous to Strangers As for Golconda he must be very little acquainted with the Map who knows not the situation of it but from Golconda to the Mines the way is less known they measure the ways there by the Gos one Gos making four French Leagues They reckon from Golconda to Canapour Gos 1. From Canapour to Parquel Gos 2 ½ From Parquel to Caquenol Gos 1. From Caquenol to Canol-Condonor Gos 3. From Canol-Condonor to Jettapour Gos 1 From Jettapour to the River Gos 2. This River is upon the Frontiers of the Kingdoms of Golconda and Visapour From the River to Alpour Gos 2 ¾ From Alpour to Canol Gos ¾ From Canol to Raolconda where the Mine is Gos 2 ½ So that in all from Golconda to the Mine it is about 15 Gos which comes to 60 French Leagues From Golconda to the Mine of Coullour or Gani by the same Gos they count Gos 13 ¾ which is 55 French Leagues this is the way From Golconda to Almaspinde Gos 3. From Almaspinde to Kaper Gos 2. From Kaper to Montecour Gos 2 ½ From Montecour to Naglepar Gos 2. From Naglepar to Eligada Gos 1 ½ From Eligada to Sarvaron Gos 1. From Sarvaron to Mellazerou Gos 1. From Mellazeron to Ponocour Gos 1 ¼ From Ponocour to Coullour or Gany there is onely the River to pass 5. It remains to speak of the Pieces which are currant in India with which the Diamonds are bought viz. Roupies and Pagodes a Roupie is worth twenty eight pence of our Money as for the Pagodes there be two sorts of them the new and the old the new are worth three Roupies and an half and the old a Roupie more In the Realm of Bengala in the Countrey of the Raja being they are Tributaties to the Grand Mogol Payments are made in Roupies At the two Mines that are upon the Lands of the King of Visapour about Raolconda payment is made in new Pagodes which the King gets stamped because although he be tributary to the Great Mogol he causeth his own money to be coyned a Priviledge which he hath above the King of Golconda of which I shall speak hereafter These Pagodes rise and fall according to the course of Trade and according as the Merchants do bargain with the Princes and Governors At the Mine of Coullour or Gani which belongs to the King of Golconda payment is made after the same manner in new Pagodes which are valued as those of the King of Visapour but they must sometimes be bought from 1 to 4 per Cent. more the reason is because they are of the best Gold and they will have none but such These Pagodes are coyn'd by the English and Hollanders who have had the Priviledge from the King by grant or by force I know not now those of the Hollanders being fairer than those of the English the Miners love them better than the others which is the reason why they are bought for more by 1 or 2 per Cent. yet being the Merchants are aware of this false opinion they are imposed upon by and because these people at the Mines are rude and savage and that at the best the ways are somewhat dangerous from Golconda to the Mine they stay commonly at Golconda where the Merchants who cause them to dig have their Correspondence and whither they usually send the Diamonds which are to be paid for at such time in old Pagodes stampt long since with the Coyn of divers Princes who reigned in the Indies before the Mahumetans took footing there Now these old Pagodes are worth as I said four Roupies and an half a Roupie more than the new which comes to six pence of our money more than a Ducat though there be no more Gold in them than in the new ones and weigh no more the which might administer cause of wonder if we did not know the reason which is this that the Cherafs or Money-Changers to oblige the King not to get them coyned over again give him a great sum yearly because they draw from thence a considerable benefit for the Merchants do not receive any of these Pagodes without having one of these Money-Changers to examine them some of them being defaced others of low rate others which are not weight and there ought to be
allowed a quarter per cent for what they want When you pay the Miners they receive not your Pagodes but in presence also of the Changer who certifies them of what is good or bad and he again allows his quarter per cent But to dispatch the sooner when they would make any payment that is considerable as a thousand o◠two thousand Pagodes the Changer in allowing him hi◠right puts them up in a little Bag with a Bill of its mark and when you would pay the Miner you carry them to the Cheraf together with the Bag and finding its mark entire he assures the Miner that he hath examined the whole and that he will be responsible for what is not good Now as for Roupies they take indifferently those of the Great Mogol and those of the King of Golconda because those which the King causes to be stamped are to be acccording to the Great Mogol's Coyn as is agreed upon between them And to shew you that these Indians have more wit and more subtilty than any one would think the Pagodes being little pieces of thick Gold of the bigness onely of the nail of the little finger and it being upon that account impossible to clip them they have the art to make little holes in them round about from whence they may get two or three pence of the powder of Gold after which they beat them down again handsomely that it may not appear that any one has touched them Moreover when you buy any thing in a Village or when you pass a River if you give them a Roupy they presently kindle a fire and having cast it into it if it cometh out white they take it if it cometh out black they restore it to you again for all the Coyn in the Indies is without Allay and if any of it be brought thither out of Europe it must be carried to the Mint to be new coyned We must adde that those people are deceived who do imagine that it sufficeth to carry Looking-Glasses to the Mines or Tobacco and such like Toyes to truck them for Diamonds our Travellers find the quite contrary and they desire there the best and fairest Gold Besides it is a thing undeniable that as Gold is the most heavy and richest of all Metals so is the Diamond the most hard and most precious of all Stones and it is a Vulgar Error of Ancient Authors to believe that the Diamond may be softened by the Blood of a Bull which is contrary to the experience of Lapidaries To conclude and to forget nothing in this Chapter 't is to be observed That the Diamond in the Miners Language is called Iri and in Turkish Persian and Arabian 't is called Almas but in all the Languages of Europe there is no other Name besides Diamond I come to Coloured Stones and particularly to the Ruby and the Emerauld which hold amongst Jewels a very considerable place CHAP. II. Of Coloured Stones THere are discovered but two places in the Indies from whence they bring Coloured Stones viz. in the Realm of Pegu and in the Island of Ceylan The first is from a Mountain about 12 dayes journey from Ava inclining to the N. East which they call Capelan and it is the Mine from whence they bring the greatest quantities of Rubies and Espinelles otherwise Mother of Rubies Yellow Topazes Blew and White Saphires and other Stones of different Colours amongst which they find also some of divers Colours yet very tender which they call Bacan in that Countrey Language Siren is the City where the King of Pegu hath his Residence and Ava is the Port to his Countrey from Ava to Siren they go up the River in great Flat-bottomed Boats in which Voyage they spend at least thirty dayes They cannot go thither by Land because of the thick Woods full of Lions Tygers and Elephants and in a word it is one of the poorest Countreys in the World Nothing comes thence but Rubies and not in so great quantities as is believed seeing that every year there comes not out to the value of an hundred thousand Crowns and amongst them you 'll very rarely find a Stone of four or five Carrats that is fair considering the Prohibition against exporting any parcels which the King hath not seen who keepeth the good ones if he findeth any so that there is a considerable profit in bringing one of them out of Europe into Asia from whence we may judge whither the relation of Vincent le Blane be true wherein he boasts to have seen some as he entered into the Countrey of the bigness of Eggs. 2. The price of Rubies which cometh next the Diamond in dignity goes thus They weigh them by the Rati and one Rati maketh 7 8 of our Carrát A Ruby at the Mine of the weight of one Rati hath been bought for old Pagodes 20. Of 2 Rati Pagod 100. Of 3 Rati Pagod 250. Of 4 Rati Pagod 500. Of 5 Rati Pagod 900. Of 6 Rati Pagod 1500. Of 7 Rati Pagod 2300. Of 12 Rati Pagod 1200. The second place of the Indies from whence they bring Stones of Colour is in a great River of the Isle Ceylon they are found in the sand at low water three or four moneths after the rains have past and the poor people are employed in seeking for them The Stones which they ordinarily find there are clear more lively than those of Pegu and of a very high colour especially the Topaz As for Granats and Chrystal they find a great quantity of them At such time as Don Philippo Mascarini was Governour of those places which the King of Portugal had in the Isle of Ceylon the Chief of which was Columbo he who since was Vice-Roy of Goa he caused all the Moveables of a Chamber to be made of Chrystal viz. Bed Chairs Table Cabinet c. 'T is true that in Europe there are also two other places from which they bring Stones of Colour that is to say from Bohemia and Hungaria from this they bring Opales and in the other there be Rubies which they take out of the middle of certain Flints after they be broken these Flints are like to the Stones of Fire-locks inclining towards red some as big as the fist some less but many of them may be broken before you find one Rubie When the Son of the Emperour Ferdinand 2. was crowned King of Bohemia General Wallestein presented the Governour of Raab at Prague with a great Basket full of these Flints to the number of above two hundred This Lord caused some of these to be broken but not finding more than one small Ruby of the weight of half a Carrat he made them leave the others unbroken The curious Reader will not find it tedious to know further from whence they fetch the Lapis and Granate I cannot tell the reason why they have given the Name of Syrien to this seeing it was never found in Syria but far from thence thirty days
journey from Labor to the North East in the Countrey of a Raja who depends neither of the Great Mogol nor of the Tartar in a Mountain the Southern part whereof produceth Gold that which respects the North produces the Granat and the East part affordeth the Lapis Lazuli for the Turkoise every one knoweth that it is found in Persia in the Province of Chamaquay the chief place whereof is Maschec to the North of Hispaham towards Candahar There are there two Mines one they call the Old Rock the other the New those of the New are but of a bad blew inclining to white and little esteemed and it is free for any man to take as many of them as he pleaseth But the King of Persia some years since forbad the digging in the Old for any besides himself because having no Goldsmiths but such who work in thread and are wholly ignorant how to enamel upon Gold as people who know neither the design nor manner of it they make use for the garnishing of their Swords and Ponyards and other Works of these Turkoises instead of enamel and cause them to be cut and set in the Bearit of Rings according to the Flowers and other Figures that do best please him This sheweth well enough and is elaborate but without any curious Design 'T is an ancient error of many to believe that the Emerauld is found in the East and because before the discovery of the West Indies none could guess otherwise of it still to this day the greatest part of Jewellers and Goldsmiths so soon as ever they spy an Emerauld of an high colour inclining to black are wont to say it is an Oriental Emerald wherein they are altogether mistaken since that the East never produced any such I grant that before the discovery of America the Emeralds were brought from the East but they came from the source of the West-Indies from the Realm of Peru. For these people before we knew them did traffick in all the Molucco Islands whither they brought Gold and Silver yet more Silver than Gold being that there is more profit in the one than in the other by reason of the Gold Mines that are found in the Eastern Parts Still to this day the same Trade continues and those of Peru pass yearly to the Philippine Isles with two or three Vessels whither they bring nothing but Gold and a small quantity of Emeralds and as for the Emeralds within this few years they have left carrying any thither but send them all into Europe In the year 1660 they afforded them in the East for more than twenty per Cent. cheaper than they were valued at in France These Americans being come ashore in the Philippines those of Bengala Arachan Pegu Goa and other places bring thither all sorts of Linnen and a number of Cut Stones as Diamonds and Rubies together with divers Works of Gold Stuffs of Silk and Persian Tapestry But 't is to be observed that they can sell nothing directly to those of Peru but to such who reside in Manilla they can and these again retail them to the Americans nay if any one obtain permission to return from Goa to Spain by the way of the South Sea he will be forc'd to put out his money to interest at fourscore or an hundred per Cent. to the Philippines without being able to buy any thing and to do with it after the same manner from the Philippines to New Spain Now this was the way of trafficking for Emeralds before the West Indies were found out they came into Europe onely by this way and vast compass Whatsoever was not good remained in that Countrey and what was fair passed into Asia The Holy Scripture makes mention of the Emerald as of a precious Jewel and placeth it amongst the rich Stones that the High-Priest wore in his Ephod and those which adorned the Walls of the New Hierusalem Heretofore the Emerald has been had in great esteem and came after the Pearl Now-a-dayes none makes so much account of it in regard of the great quantities are brought every year from the Indies The truth is men so much account of rare things that they quite undervalue such as they perceive common and I will relate to you a Story upon this account At the beginning of the discovery of the Indies a Spaniard was in Italy and demanding of a Lapidary the price of an Emerald which he shewed him he considering it very well and finding it a goodly one told him it was worth a hundred Ducats Whereupon the Spaniard being very glad carried him to his Lodgings and shewed him a Cabinet full of them The Italian who saw so great a number of these Emeralds told him that as for those they were well worth Crowns apiece Thus it fares with all things which the abundance makes cheap and whereto rarity adds a price Pliny amongst divers excellencies of the Emerald says that there is nothing more delightful nor recreative to the sight and reporteth that Laelia a Roman Dame had Head-Cloaths and a Gown embroidered with Pearls and Emeralds in which she laid out to the value of Four hundred thousand Ducats But she might have had as many now-a-dayes for less than half the Money Many are found in several places of America and the Kings of Mexico who esteemed them very much were usually wont to pierce their Nostrils and there to hang an excellent Emerald they put them also upon the Faces of their Idols The places where they have found them and where still to this day they find the great abundance is the New Kingdom of Granada and Peru near to Manta and Portviel there is towards that place a Territory called The Land of Emeralds by reason of the great number known to be found there but hitherto this Region has not been fully conquered The Emerald is bred in Quarries just as the Chrystal and runs along as it were making a Vein and grows finer and finer or thicker and thicker by degrees We see some half white and half green some all white some quite green and most perfect some we may see of the bigness of a Nut and bigger yet none come near the bigness and figure of the Plate or Jewel which is at Genoua unless we believe Theophrastus who allows four Ells in length and three in breadth to the Emerald which the King of Babylon presented to the King of Aegypt And who doth further report that there was in the Temple of Jupiter an Aguglia Needle or Pyramid made of four Stones of Emerald forty Cubits long and in some places four Cubits broad and that at his time there was at Tyre in the Temple of Hercules a great Pillar of Emerald perhaps it was nothing else but a Green Stone that was a Bastard Emerald to which they gave this Name falsly As some say that certain Pillars of the Cathedral Church of Cordoua are of Emerald Stones and were put there since the time it served instead of
who come ashore unless it be by a particular favour Besides that the Queen does rarely permit any to transport them and so soon as ever any one hath found one of them they are obliged to bring it to her Yet for all that they pass up and down and now and then the Hollanders buy them in Batavia Some few are found there but the largest do not exceed five Carats although in the year 1648 there was one to be sold in Batavia of 22 Carats I have made mention of the Queen of Borneo and not of the King because that the Isle is alwayes commanded by a Woman for that People who will have no Prince but what is legitimate would not be otherwise assured of the birth of Males but can not doubt of those of the Females who are necessarily of the Blood Royal on their Mothers side she never marrying yet having alwayes the Command The second River is in the Kingdom of Bengala and is called Nage by the Name of a great Town the Seat of a Prince equally distant from Ougoulin Pepeli and Balacor fifteen dayes journey from all three This Province hath a Raja or a Duke in our Language who is an Idolater as are all his Subjects This Raja as also the Kings of Visapour and Golconda are Tributaries to the Great Mogol and have been his Subjects but took occasion to revolt from him whil'st they saw him busied against the Tartars 'T is from hence that the three Mines of Diamonds whereof I shall speak being found in the Countries of these Princes are ordinarily said to be found in the Territories of the Great Mogol These Diamonds then are discovered in the Sand of a River at the bottom and upon the Banks after that the great Floods are passed just as in the River of Borneo They are fair for the most part pointed brisk high bright and large and what we call now-a-days of the Old Rock But they are hard to come by because the River affords but very few and the Iuhabitants hold them at an high rate and that which renders them still more rare is the perfidiousness of those who sell them who lay wait in the Woods for the Merchants who buy them and fall upon them Besides that the Prince doth cruelly tyrannize over the poor people who come to search for them In the year 1657 L'Escot of Orleans ventured to go thither by reason that he had learned that the Raja had a Diamond of 42 Carats he was courteously received by the Prince who shewed it to him and had a mind to sell it him upon condition that L'Escot would pay for it in ready money but the other having bargained beâ—â—re-hand and desiring they â—â—ould deliver him the â—â—one and receive the moâ—ey for it in any City of the â—ealm of Bengala which â—â—e Prince should like best â—here the Hollanders had Bank the Raja would â—ot consent thereto and â—â—e other went his way without buying of it An Holâ—â—nder hath since got it from â—n unknown hand The first of the three Mines from whence they â—etch the Diamond is in the Land of the King of Visapour in the Province of Caâ—natica eight dayes journeâ— from Visapour and five from Golconda 'T is but 20â— years since it was discoveâ—ed and the City rounâ— about which it lieth is called Raolconda Thâ— Stones are found in thâ— ground and on the Rocâ— Those which are taken froâ— the Rock or the placâ— thereabouts are commoâ—ly of a good water Bâ—â— for those which are takeâ— from the Earth their watâ—â— is somewhat of the Coloâ—â— of that Earth where they aâ—â— found so that if the Earth â—e clear and a little gravelâ—y the Diamonds will be of â— good water and if it be â—at and black or of an oâ—her Colour they will likewise have some of the tincture of the same But if there be any Black or Red Sand amongst the Earth the Diamond also will have some of it The Stones which are got from thence are for the most part Lasques it is not because they are taken out so from the Earth but it is because being stounded by the blow of the Lever that hits againâ—â— the Rock to dig out thâ— Gravel that is in the Veiâ—â— where the Stone is found they assume an Ice just as Glass that is crackt now tâ— remove it and make it cleaâ— they cleave it and theâ—â— are the Stones they caâ—â— Lasque Stones or Flâ—â— Stones the which the Indians know better how tâ— perform than we especially as to the business of cutting or cleaving and finding the thread of the Stone Now if there remain any small point they get it made with little fossets to the end that the standing out of the fossets may cover the bruise or flaw the truth is if the Stone be clear they do no more but polish it above and below and shape â—t not for fear of diminishing any thing from its weight There are alwayes more than an hundred and fifty Mills that work and they put not above one Stone upon each wheel till such â—ime they have found the way of the Stone they water it incessantly and when it begins to run they take oil their Wheels are of the bigness of our ordinary Plates and each Wheel hath its Woman to turn it The Trafick for Stones is free in paying two per Cent. to the King of whatsoever is sold and no body dares do the least wrong to Strangers You may there see Children of ten or twelve years oâ—d in the Streets with theiâ— Weights at their Girdle expecting the Miners in hope to buy of them what Stone they have by stealth conveyed away In the Evening 〈◊〉 these Children meet toâ—â—ther and setting the currant price upon each Stone they have bought do divide the profit of it amongst them and sell it all again to the great Merchants who by little and little make large Collections They match the Waters and mix therewith alwayes some Stone that has a point or flaw which they cannot remove They put their whole confidence in Strangers especially the Francks whereof very few come thither and place such confidence in their faith that they leave them sometimes great quantities of Diamonds of great value fifteen dayes together without comeing to see them and by that means affording them all the leasure they can wish to consider well their marchandise so that it is their own fault if they be cheated in it The second Mine is called Coullour in the Persian Language and the Idolaters of the Countrey call it Gany This is a large Town near a great River and they dig from the River to a Mountain about two Leagues from thence and in the Mountain it self This Mine hath been discovered but within 50 or 60 years and is the place where they find the most part of the great Stones whereas before that time they rarely met with any above twelve Carrats but that at this day some are to be seen of threescore an