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THE MASCARENHAS I. & II.
A Rich Viceroy, who was also a Toxicologist-"Hung in Effigy" and possibly poisoned as well.
These two stones belonged to the notorious Portuguese viceroy, Dom Philip de Mascarenha, who showed both of them to Tavernier, when that traveller was in Goa, in 1648. He thus speaks of them and of their owner.
"I will say in passing, that no viceroy of Goa ever left the country so enriched as Dom Philip de Mascarenha. He had a quantity of diamonds, all stones of great weight, from ten to forty carats. But he had especially two, which he was good enough to show me when I was in Goa, one of which, a thick stone, weighed 57 carats, and the other 67 1/2 carats, both of them tolerably pure, and of good water, and cut in the Indian fashion. The report ran that this viceroy was poisoned on board ship, and it was added that his death was a just retribution for having caused so many persons to perish in the same way, especially while he was governor in the island of Ceylon. He always kept the most subtle poison at hand, to make use of whenever he wished his vengeance to be swift. Having in this way, made many enemies, who feared for themselves the fate of his victims, he was found one morning hung in effigy in Goa, when I was there, in the year 1648." |
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Precious Stones Guide Vol 10
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