hundred and of two hundred Carrats Mirgimola Chief Minister of State and General of the Armies of the King of Golconda a man of great parts much believed of his Master who gave him the Title of Prince of Princes though at length he proved a Traitor presented the Great Mogol to whose side he turned with a vast Stone of Nine hundred Carrats in weight yet being full of flaws it was reduc'd to 300 by Hortensius a Venetian Lapidary who cut it but could not do it so well but there remained a flaw in it which makes it something unhandsom 'T is also to be observed that just as at the Mine of Visapour the Stones in this also do partake of the quality of the Earth from whence they are brought so that if the Earth be marshy and moist the Stone inclines to black if it be reddish the Stone inclines to be red for from the Town to the Mountain there is great difference of Mould and upon the greatest part of these Stones after they are cut there appears alwayes as it were a piece of grease which makes you ever and anon put your hand to your Handkerchief to wipe it off We will observe by the way that whereas we make use of the day to examine rough Stones and to judge well of their water and of the points that may be found therein the Inhabitants of the Countrey make use of the night and in an hole which they make in the Wall a foot square where they put a Lamp with a great Match holding the Stone in their Fingers between their Eyes and the Lamp they make an estimate of the water and clearness of the Diamond We must not forget that the Celestial water as they call it is of all waters for a Diamond most unpleasing and that it is impossible to know it so long as the Stone is rough but after that it is a little discovered upon the Wheel the infallible secret to judge well of its water is to carry it under a Shady Tree for under its green shade you may easily discover if it be blew Formerly there have been reckoned at this Mine Sixty thousand Miners and upwards but in the year 1660 there was not a Stone scarce worth looking upon and not above Three thousand Laborers in the Mines all the rest being dead with hunger and misery for each Miner has but Five Crowns a year and they are certainly the most miserable people upon Earth The Land is also very barren and if it could but produce Pulse the people would not trouble themselves to gather Diamonds Those who pay the Miners make them work as much as they please and take as much as they please of the Earth without searching it but after they have begun to search into it they owe to the King a Pagode which is worth two Crowns of our Money for the whole time till they cease to work The Third and last Mine was discovered in the year 1448 two days journey from Raolconda and the place is called Gazerpoli the Stones there are very clear and of a good water but cannot be ground but with the Stones of the same Mine Otherwise if they should make use of Stones of another Mine these last would be bruised They are likewise apt to break upon the Wheel and they who are not vers'd in the knowledge of Stones may easily be deceived in them A Portuguefe retiring to Venice was desired passing by Legorn to sell one of those Stones which he had for which they offered him Twelve thousand Crowns he would not part with it at that rate and bringing it to Venice to get it cut it broke upon the Wheel into fifteen or twenty pieces Besides these two Rivers and three Mines there be also some other Mines towards the Cape of Comorin of which I will make mention in a few words In the year 1652 the Nababe who is as the Grand Visier in Turkey the Etmaldoulet in Persia and Constable in France and the same Mirgimola of whom I spoke even now was at the Siege of Indecote a very strong place in the Province of Carnatica by reason of its situation which he took notwithstanding in two Moneths time There were some French in his service yet more English and Hollanders who had deserted their Colours and come over to him all able Gunners the poor wretches of the Countrey having never heard the noise of these Engins were quite surpris'd at it and rendered themselves forthwith to their discretion Indecote is 35 days journey from Masselipatan inclining towards the Cape of Comorine and 16 from Golconda This is one of the fairest and best Countreys of all the Indies and every where all the Countrey is green full of Rivers and Lakes to water the Land where need requires It was during this Siege that they brought to Nababe a great number of Diamonds of the six Mines he had caused to be digged towards the Cape of Comorin yet there was ne're a Stone of a good water they were either yellow or black and after that Nababe had viewed them he forbad them to dig any more and gave order that these people should return to their labour by which they brought more profit to the King then by working in the Mines being they found not one good Stone there 2. I come now to the manner of finding the Diamond and especially how it is performed in the Mine of Coullour The Miners sink a Pit of about fifteen or twenty foot square and throw the Earth about it upon a clean place almost of the same largeness raising a little wall of a foot and half to keep up the earth and water which they cast in there after this they wash and stamp and tread the earth with their feet in two or three waters to the end that all the fat and muddy earth may run through the holes made in the wall and that there remain nothing but sand The sand being dry they beat it with Pestles of Wood that they may better perceive and discover the Diamonds heretofore they made use of Instruments of Stone but they left them so soon as ever they were perceived to cause flaws in the Diamonds At length they sit them down all on a row upon the earth in the posture of Taylors and seek out with all acurateness the Stones amongst the sand Whil'st they be at this exercise several Commissioners stand up with their eyes fixed upon the Workmen for fear least when they find a Stone they should swallow it cunningly down When a Miner has found a big one he runneth to the Master who set him on work to receive his reward for it which is ordinarily a piece of Linnen of a Crown value 3. We are now to touch upon the price of Diamonds in proportion to their weight which is not the least considerable article of this Chapter and although some have writ copiously of this Subject and set down what Rules ought to be observed yet
a Mosk to the Kings of the Moors who reigned in those places In the Fleet which came from the the Indies in the year 1587 there were two great Chests of Emeralds from whence we may judge of the great quantity which is found in America In a word as there is nothing but the rarity that gives value to things so the price of the Emerald would be much enhanced if it were as rare as the Diamond CHAP. III. Of PEARLS THe Pearl hath been at all times so much esteemed that the Gospel does not disdain by this to represent to us the Excellency of the Kingdome of Heaven and it belonged formerly onely to Royal Persons to wear them without dispute 't is one of the richest productions of Nature and if we believe the Naturalists Pearl is ingendred of the dew of heaven in those parts of the Earth where it is most pure and serene And the Cockle opening at the first Rayes of the Sun to receive those precious drops plungeth into the Sea with its booty and conceives in its Shell the Pearl which resembles the heavens and imitateth its clearness this admirable Pearl which men seek with so much industry so that heaven does visibly contribute to its generation and impresses the most Celestial Vertues and Qualities which Physick was ever able to boast of and whereof she makes use for a Sovereign Remedy yet for all that all the World does not agree as to this with the Ancient Naturalists and the sequel of this Discourse will make appear that they are deceived in some things But before we speak of the manner how they fish for Pearl and of their different Qualities we must make report of the divers places of the World where they are found First of all then they have discovered four Fishing Places for Pearl in the East the most considerable is performed in the Isle of Bahren in the Persian Golph the which appertains to the Sophy of Persia who receives thence a great Revenue While the Portugals were Masters of Ormus and Mascati every Vessel which went to fish was obliged to take a Passport from them at a dear rate and they maintained alwayes five or six small Galleys in the Gulph to sink those Barks which took no Pasports but at present they have no farther power upon those Coasts and each Fisher payeth to the King of Persia not above one third of what they gave to the Portugals The second Fishing is over against Bahren upon the Coast of Arabia Foelix near to the City of Catif which belongeth to an Arabian Prince who commandeth that Province The most part of the Pearls which are fished in these two places are carried into India because that the Indians are not so hard but give a better price for them than we they are therefore carried thither the unequal as well as the round the yellow as well as the white every one according to its rate some of them also are sold at Balsora and those which are transported into Persia and Moscovy are sold at Bandarcongue two dayes journey from Ormus They fish twice in a year in the Moneths of March and April and in the Moneths of August and September the depth where they fish is from four to twelve fathoms and the deeper the Oister is found the Pearls are the whiter because the water is not so hot there the Sun not being able to penetrate so deep The third fishing is by the Isle of Ceylon at a place which is called Manar the Pearls which are found there are of a good water but small and the greatest do not surpass two Carrats and it is seldom that they are found of that weight but in recompence of this there is great quantity of Seed Pearl fit to powder The fourth and last Fishing in the East is at Japan the Pearls there are of a water white enough and heavy but unequal those of Japan sell them all to the Holland Company for they make no account as I shall let you know in order of any Jewel In the West are discovered five Pearl Fishings the first is in the Island Margarita two and twenty leagues from the firm land this Isle is thirty five leagues about and hath a good Haven towards the North at the East point it is all encompassed with rocks it is fruitful enough but there is want of water and the inhabitants go up into the Countrey to furnish themselves with it yet there are great store of Cattel and it beareth Maize and other things necessary for those who live there The second Fishing was discovered in the year 1496 by the Isle of Cubagua a league from the former in the Gulph of Mexico it is in ten degrees and an half of Northern Latitude an hundred and threescore Leagues from St. Domingo in Hispaniola and an hundred from Santa Cruz one of the Careeby Islands and four Leagues from the Province of Aria which is part of the Continent it is much less than Margarita without Cattel or any other thing which may serve for the sustenance of man particularly it wanteth water but the inhabitants are furnished from the Continent from a River called Comana seven Leagues from New Cadis This Island Cubagua was discovered by that famous Genouese Christopher Columbus who having perceived a small Boat with some Fishers in it and a Woman who had three rows of fair Pearl about her Neck said to his Companions That he thanked God he had now discovered the most rich Countrey in the World He broke an Earthen Plate of divers Colours and for a piece or two of it this Woman gave him very willingly a row of these Pearls and for another Plate he received many others and I darned of the Indians the place and manner of their Fishing for Pearls The third is at Comana near the Continent The fourth is called Comanagote twelve Leagues from the former The fifth and last is at the Isle of St. Martha threescore Leagues from the River La Hache All the Pearls of these five Fishings are of a white water weak dry faint milky or leady not but that they find some fair ones but they have not so live a water as those of the East in recompence they are great ones in weight from eighteen to forty two Carrats and are almost all of the shape of a Pear These Five Fishings of which I have spoken are all in the North Sea but they find also great quantities in the South Sea near to Panama they are long rather than round but not so fair as the other and ordinarily are somewhat black for the Indians opened the Oyster by Fire till Vasques Nugnez taught the Cacique to open them without it and since they find the Pearls whiter Experience teacheth us that Oysters change their places as well as other Fish and that they pass sometimes to one side of the Island and sometimes to the other It is is a considerable curiosity to know how they fish for Pearls
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