1 
• J 
The Nizam Diamond. 
35t 
though doubtless many real or suggested applications of this 
curious substance have been overlooked, it is said to be of 
use in the manufacture of smalt and ultramarine. 
V. THE NIZAM DIAMOND— THE DIAMOND 
IN INDIA. 
By Captain Richard F. Burton. 
9 ;T is impossible to quit Golconda without a word con- 
cerning the precious stone which, in the seventeenth 
century, made its name a household word throughout 
Europe ; and also without noticing the great diamond whose 
unauspicious name, Bala (little) Koh-i-nur, I would alter to 
“The Nizam.” It is a singular faCt that professional books, 
— like Mr. Lewis Dieulafait’s “ Diamonds and Precious 
Stones” (London: Blackie, 1874), — which give full particu- 
lars of all the historic stones, have utterly ignored one of 
the most remarkable. 
The history of the Nizam diamond is simple enough 
About half a century ago it was accidentally found by a 
Hindu Sonar (goldsmith) at Narkola, a village about 
20 miles east of Shamsabad, the latter lying some 14 miles 
south-west of the Lion City, Haydarabad, on the road to Maktal. 
It had been buried in an earthen pipkin (Koti or Abkhorah), 
which suggests that it may have been stolen and was being 
carried for sale to Mysore or Coorg. The finder placed it 
upon a stone, and struck it with another upon the apex of the 
pyramid. This violence broke it into three pieces, of which 
the largest represents about half. With the glass model in 
hand it is easy to restore the original odtonedron. The 
discovery came to the ears of the celebrated Diwan 
(minister) Rajah Chandu Lai, a friend of General Fraser, 
who governed the country as Premier for the term of forty- 
two years. He very properly took it from the Sonar before 
it underwent further ill-treatment, and deposited it amongst 
his master’s crown jewels. 
The stone is said to be of the finest water. An outline 
of the model gives a maximum length of 1 inch 10*25 lines, 
and 1 inch 2 lines for the greatest breadth, with conformable 
thickness throughout. The face is slightly convex, and the 
cleavage plane produced by the fracture is nearly flat, with 
