A CHAPTER ON DIAMONDS. 



49 



of treasurer; and when the Persian ccnqueror was assassinated 

 bj^his subjects, the AfFghans after vainly endeavouring to rescue 

 or avenge him, fought their way to their own frontiers, though 

 only 4,000 strong, through the hosts of the Persian army. In 

 conducting this intrepid retreat, Ahmed Shah carried off with 

 him the treasures in his possession, and was probably aided by 

 these means, as well as by his own valour, in consolidating the 

 new state which, under the now familiar title of the Doorannee 

 Empire, he speedily created in Cabul. It seemed as if the Koh- 

 i-Nur carried with it the sovereignty of Hindostan, for the con- 

 quests of Ahmed were as decisive as those of Nadir, and it was 

 by his nomination and patronage that the last emperor ascended 

 the throne of the Moguls. 



At the beginning of the present century, the treasures and pow- 

 er of Ahmed were vested in the person of Zemaun Shah, subject 

 to the incessant assaults of his kinsmen. One of these at length 

 proved successful; and in the year 1800, Zemaun Shah found 

 himself a prisoner, at the disposal of his brother Shah Shuja, 

 the identical puppet, forty years later, of our disastrous Cabul ex- 

 pedition ; so that we are now brought down to modern times and 

 characters. Shah Shuja presently ascended the throne of his 

 brother ; but the treasury of Cabal was wanting in its most pre- 

 cious ornament, till the " Mountain of Light" was discovered, in- 

 geniously secreted in the wall of Zemaun Shah's prison. 



It was eight years after this, while the Doorannee monarchy 

 was still formidable enough to inspire the powers of the East with 

 uneasiness, that Mr. Elphinstone, accredited by Lord Minto to the 

 Affghan prince, betook himself to what was then the remote and 

 unknown town of Peshawur, where, at his state reception, the 

 Koh-i-Nur again flashed, after an interval of so many years, upon 

 the dazzled eyes of a European. Shah Shuja, afterwards the 

 client and pensioner of the East India Company, was dressed on 

 this occasion in a green velvet tunic, fitting closely to his body, 

 and seamed with gold and precious stones. On his breast was a 

 cuirass of diamonds, shaped like two flattened fleurs-de-lis^ and in 

 a bracelet on his right arm blazed the priceless jewel of Golconda. 

 The prince gave a gracious audience to the ambassador, and Mr. 

 Elphinstone retired ; but the Koh-i-Nur was not fated long to con- 

 tinue in the divided and tottering family of the once powerful 

 •Abdallees. 



5 



