About the Ferdinand Diamond and Precious Stones That Shattered

THE FERDINAND.

The Raulconda Mines.--Tinted Stones--A Diamond that Broke into Fragments on the Cutter's Wheel--"Bort"--A Curious Freak of Nature.

About five days' journey from Golconda, and about half as much again from Bejapoor, there is an extensive plain, where diamonds were found in the 15th and 16th centuries, of great purity and of unusual size. It was known as the Raulconda; but early in the 17th century, between this plain and a no less productive mine at Coloor, some stones of very imperfect consistency, were discovered, which shattered easily when placed under the wheel. The pure water, for which the stones of old Raulconda were celebrated in all countries, was wanting in this new source of diamantiferous wealth. A yellow or reddish grey was visible in the stones, although the genuine brilliancy of the diamond was unimpaired. However much the geologist might be interested in these peculiarities, which in some particulars characterized many of the findings at Coloor, the mercantile world received the new consignments with indignation, and the king of Golconda therefore deemed it incumbent on him to close the mine. In the meantime, a stone weighing 42 carats was found and taken to Surat, where Messrs. Fremelin & Francis Breton, the heads of the English company, showed this handsome-looking stone to Edward Ferdinand, a Spanish Jew. He seems to have approved of the gem, and was commissioned to take it to Europe and seek a purchaser for it. At Leghorn he was offered 25,000 piastres for the stone by some Jews of his acquaintance. He refused to part with it on these terms, and took it to Venice, where he determined to have it cut. No sooner, however, was it placed on the wheel and the operation begun, than it burst first into nine pieces, and subsequently into small fragments.