1 697-] ABSENCE OF EMERALDS. 269 



relato new things, but to undeceive the Eeaclers in the 

 Errors relating to old. Vertomanni says of Java, " 'Tis an 

 Island in the East where very fine Emeralds are found,''^ 

 yet 1 that liv'd a whole year there, could never hear of any 

 such thing, tho' I made never so much Enquiry. But I'll 

 oppose Tavcrnicr to Vertomanni : " Tis an ancient Error," 

 says Monsieur Tavcrnier, " that a great many People have 

 believ'd that Emeralds were found originally in the East. 

 The greatest part of Jewellers, as soon as they view a high- 

 colour'd Emerald, are accustom'd to ery, see an oriental 

 Emerald ! But they are deceiv'd, for I am as certain as can 

 be, that neither the Tcrra-firma, nor any of the Islands of 

 the East ever produc'd any. I have made a strict Enquiry", 

 said he, " after this, in all my Voyages." 



There can be nothing more positive,and Monsieur Tavernicr, 

 an Author mean enough in other Eespects, ought certainly to 

 be hearkeu'd to when he talks about precious Stones which 

 he dealt in : He that had made six Voyages by Land to the 

 Grand Indies, and had visited the whole East for so many 

 years, even to decrepit old Age. 



Vertomanni adds with some Assurance, that the Island 

 Java has IMines of Gold, and when he speaks of the pre- 

 tended Anthropojjharji that inhabit it, he tells you exactly 

 what Dioclorus Siculus, Mela, Solinus'^ and I know not how 

 many other Authors have related of divers other Countries, 

 viz., that they carry their old and sick People to the Market 

 to sell, and deliver them from their Infirmities by eating 

 them. A very odd sort of Food ! 



As I have never seen elsewhere so fine Negro Men and 



1 " Emeralds, though said to be Oriental, are not found in any Part 

 of the Eastern Continent, but are brought from Peru to the Philijipiiie 

 Islands, and so transported into Europe.'' (Taveruier, Harris'a Voyages^ 

 vol. ii, p. 374.) 



^ Vide ante., p. 255. Misson never tires of dragging in quotations 

 from these old Latin authors, a method apparently deprecated by 

 Les;uat himself. 



