The British Museum, amongst the native
diamonds, exhibits an octahedral diamond
attached to alluvial gold: and—strange confirmation
of the ancient idea as to their affinity!—
not only is the octahedron the primary crystal
of that metal also, but all its secondary
modifications exactly correspond with those of the
diamond. Modern science has made no further
advance towards a solution of this problem
beyond that propounded as a certainty in the
ancient Timæus. But without solving the
problem, it is clearly worth while for persons likely
to travel in gold-bearing regions to know a
rough diamond when they see it. Otherwise,
they may make ducks and drakes with pebbles
that would pay for their preservation.

Two points determine the value of diamonds
—their weight, which can be estimated in the
rough, and their lustre, or water, which is less
easy to judge of. An old treatise says, " The
Water called CÅ“lestis is the Worth of all, and
yet is somewhat difficult to discover in a rough
Diamond. The only infallible Way is to
examine it in the Shade of some tufted Tree. In
Europe, the Lapidaries examine the Goodness
of their rough Diamonds, their Water, Points,
&c., by Daylight; in the Indies, they do it by
Night."

The diamond is the only gem which becomes
phosphorescent in the dark after long exposure
to the sun's rays, or, Boyle says, after steeping
in hot water. Dr. Wall, in the Philosophical
Transactions, gives his " infallible method'' of
distinguishing diamonds from other stones. A
diamond with an easy slight friction in the dark
with any soft animal substance, as the finger,
woollen cloth, or silk, appears luminous in its
whole body. Nay, if you keep rubbing for
some time, and then expose it to the eye, it
will remain so for some time. The excessive
hardness of the diamond is another extraordinary
and superlative quality which sets it apart
from most other known substances.

The history of individual diamonds is often
strange and romantic. They have influenced
the fortunes of families, dynasties, and nations.
They bring with them luck, good or ill. Take
the Pitt or Regent diamond, which was found
at Puteal, forty-five leagues from the city of
Golconda, and next to Mirgimola's (the "Mogul"
Diamond) was the largest on record, weighing
in the rough four hundred and ten carats.

Pride, they say, feels no pain; nor,
sometimes, does poverty. The slave who found this
precious pebble concealed it, as the story goes,
in a gash made to receive it in the calf of his
leg until he found an opportunity of escaping
to Madras. There the poor wretch fell in with
an English skipper who, by promising to find a
purchaser for the stone on condition of sharing
half the proceeds, lured him to his ship, and
there disposed of his claims by pitching him
overboard. A Parsee merchant of the name of
Jamchund bought this wonderful specimen from
the thief and murderer for the paltry sum of
one thousand pounds, which sum he (the murderer)
speedily squandered in debauchery, and,
when it was finished, hanged himself.

Governor Pitt, of Fort St. George, Madras,
states that he purchased it himself of
Jamchund for twelve thousand five hundred pounds.
Pope, to his annoyance, tried to rob him of the
credit of doing so by assigning its acquisition
to the agency of an " honest factor." To cut
it into a perfect brilliant, in London, occupied
two whole years, at a cost of five thousand
pounds; which outlay was nearly covered by
the value (three thousand five hundred pounds)
of the fragments separated in shaping it. This
operation reduced its weight to one hundred
and thirty-six carats and seven-eighths, but
made it, for perfection of shape as well as for
purity of water, the first diamond in the world,
which it still remains.

The fame of this incomparable jewel soon
spread all over Europe. Uffenbach, a German
traveller who visited this country in 1712,
states that he made many fruitless attempts to
get a sight of it. There was no obtaining an
interview with Governor Pitt, its far from
enviable possessor. So fearful was he of robbery
(not without cause) that he never let be know
beforehand the day of his coming to town, nor
slept in the same house twice consecutively.
During the next five years—that is, until after
long negotiation the Regent Orleans relieved
him of its custody in 1717—Pitt must have felt
his too-precious stone almost as harassing a
possession as its first finder did. He finally
sold it for one hundred and thirty-five thousand
pounds, a price considered much below its
value; for, in the inventory of the Regalia, it
is entered at twelve millions of francs, or four
hundred and eighty thousand pounds.

In September, 1792, the great robbery of the
Garde Meuble occurred. Together with the
other regalia of France, the Sancy and the
Regent diamonds were stolen. The former,
being more convertible than its companion, was
never recovered, although a diamond exactly
answering to its description afterwards turned
up. This robbery was effected under
circumstances of great suspicion in respect to the
keepers, who were supposed to have acted in
the interest of the royal family. The regalia,
including gold plate of almost incalculable
value, had been sealed up by the officers of the
Commune of Paris, after the massacres of the
10th of August. On the 17th of the following
month, the seals were found broken, the locks
picked by means of false keys, and the cabinets
empty. The thieves were never discovered;
but an anonymous letter directed to the
Commune gave information where to find the Regent
together with a noble agate chalice, the latter
stripped of its precious gold mounting. Both
these objects were too well known to be
convertible into money without certain detection.
Hence this politeness on the part of the
thieves; but everything else had disappeared
for ever.

Upon this diamond Buonaparte may be said
to have founded his fortunes. It was verily the
rock on which his empire was built. After the
famous 18th of Brumaire, by pledging the
Regent to the Dutch government, he procured