Book H. Travels ///India. i i h 



again Co as to run fo flat as it did. Had they the invention of Iron-mills, upon 

 which they never ufe Emeril, but only the File, becaufe there is no neceffity to 

 rake off the Tree to file the Mill, they might polifli their Stones better than they 

 do. I have told you they muft either rub the Mill with Emeril, or file it every 

 four and twenty hours. For when the Stone has run for fome time, that part of 

 the Mill becomes as fmooth and bright as glafs : fo that if you do not rough it 

 again either with Emeril or the File, the powder will not ftay ; whereas if the 

 powder ftay, there is more work done in an hour than otherwife in two. 



Though a Diamond be naturally very hard, having a kind of a knot, as you fee 

 in wood, the Indian Lapidaries will cut the Stone, which our European Lapidaries 

 find great difficulty to do,and ufually will not undertake to perform j which makes 

 the Indians require fomething more for the fafhion. 



As for the Government of the Mines, they trade very freely, and very faith- 

 fully. They pay two per cent, to the King for all that they buy : befides that, he 

 has alfo a duty from the Merchants for leave to dig. The Merchant after he has 

 made learch with the Miners, who know all the places where the Diamonds grow, 

 choofes out a place about two-hunder'd paces in compafs, where they let at work 

 fometimes fifty, fometimes an hunder'd Miners, as they are in haft of work. And 

 from the day that they begin to work, to the day that they end, the Merchants 

 pay to the King two Pagods a-day -, and four when they employ an hunder'd 

 men. 



Thefe poor people never get above three Pagods all the year long, though they 

 underftand their bufinefs extremely well $ fo that their wages being fo fmall, they 

 make no fcruple, when they can handfomely, to hide a Stone for their own pro- 

 fit: and in regard they are quite naked, only for a rag about their privities, fome- 

 times they are fo dextrous as to fwallow the Stone. The chief of the Merchants 

 who employ thefe Miners fhew'd me one of them, that had cozen'd him of a 

 Stone, and had put it into the corner of his eye, but he took it from the fellow 

 fo foon as he had difcover'd the cheat. To prevent this cozenage, there are twelve 

 or fifteen in fifty, who are engag'd to the Merchant, that he fhall have no injury 

 done him, nor any thefts committed. If by accident they meet with a Stone 

 that weighs 14 or 16 Carats, they prcfently carry it to the Maiter of the work, 

 who gives him in recompence the Sarpo, which is a piece of Calicut to make 

 him a Bonnet, to the value of 2j Sous, together with half a PagOd rn Silver, or 

 elfe a whole Pagod, when he gives him neither Rice nor Sugar. 



The Merchants that come to trade at the Mines keep their Lodgings j and every. 

 morning about ten or eleven a clock, after they have din'd, the Matters of the 

 Miners bring their Diamonds to fhew them. If the Stones are large, or that there 

 be fo many as amount from two-thoufand to fixteen-thoufand Crowns, they will 

 leave them with the ftrange Merchant feven or eight days, for the Merchants to 

 confider. When the Merchant has fcen the Stones, it becomes him to agree upon 

 the price in a fhort time. Otherwife the party that owes the Stones, takes them 

 away again, and you fhall never fee the fame Stones again, unlefs mix'd with 

 others. When the bargain is concluded, the Purchafer gives a Bill of Exchange 

 upon the Banker. If you have agreed to pay him in four days, and make him ftay 

 longer, you muft pay him down one and an half in the hunder'd for a months in- 

 tereft. Moft commonly when they know the Merchant to be fufficient, they 

 will.choofe to take a Bill of Exchange for ^4gra t for Gokottda s or Fifapour, but. 

 more efpecially for Sarat^ as being the moft frequented Port in all India, where 

 they may furnifh thernfelves with all Commodities which they want. 



'tis very pleafant to fee the young children of the Merchants and other people 

 of the Countrey, from the age of ten to fifteen or fixteen years, who feat thern- 

 felves upon a Tree that lies in the void place of the Town : Every oneof them 

 has his Diamond-weights in a little Bag hanging at one fide, on the othetnis Purfe 

 with five or fix-hunder'd Pagods in Gold in it. There they fit expecting when 

 any perfon will come to fell them fome Diamonds. If any perfori brings them a 

 Stone, they put it into the hands of the eldeft Boy among them, who is as it were 

 their chief } who looks upon it, and after that gives it to him that is next him s 

 by which means it goes from hand to hand, till it return to him again, none of the. 

 reftfpeaking otie word. After that he demands the price; to buy it if pomMe*: 



but 



