84 



usurper in his march to Delhi, and left him after the conquest to 

 settle in various parts of the Mogul empire with their share of the 

 plunder. 



The wealthy Persian emigrants generally bring with them 

 pearls, diamonds, and other jewels to a large amount. Tliey lie in 

 a small compass, and are the most certain means of securing a 

 competency in a foreign country. 1 saw a valuable assortment of 

 precious stones at Cambay, belonging to a Persian nobleman, in- 

 tended for sale; among them was a diamond of the first water, 

 shaped like a prism, weighing an hundred and seventeen carats, 

 and estimated at twenty-five thousand pounds. The proprietor 

 informed me of a diamond then in the royal treasury at Ispahan, 

 which weighed two hundred and sixty-four carats, and was valued 

 at four hundred and twenty thousand pounds. This is probably 

 the same stone mentioned by Tavernier, at that time in possession 

 oftheMogul emperor, which weighed two hundred and seventy-nine 

 carats, and its value was estimated at half a million sterling. The 

 variation in the weight and price in a gem of such magnitude, may 

 be easily allowed between a Persian and European traveller. This 

 imperial diamond is a brilliant of beautiful shape, called by way 

 of eminence Kooi Toor, " the Hill of Lustre," alluding to Mount 

 Sinai, in Arabia, where God appeared in glory to Moses. Ano- 

 ther diamond of a flat surface, nearly as valuable as the former, is 

 denominated Doriainoor, " the Ocean of Lustre." These magnifi- 

 cent jewels formed part of Nadir Shah's plunder at Delhi in 1739; 

 when the riches he carried off exceeded seventy millions sterling. 

 The most superb article of this imperial spoil was the Tucht-Taooz, 

 or peacock-throne, in which the expanded tail of the peacock, in 



