However, the three, four and five cornered diamond would not be reckoned evil in a flawless stone of good colour. It is asserted by some of the Hindu masters that diamonds, according to their colours and qualities, appealed to the taste as sweet, sour and salty. Marbodus calls the diamond a potent magical charm for protecting the sleeper from evil dreams and the child from the dreaded goblin. The fifth Arabian Heaven, the Garden of Delights, Jannat al-Naim, is said to be composed of the purest diamonds.
In the second voyage of Es-Sindibad of the Sea (commonly known as Sinbad the Sailor) in the “Thousand and One Nights,” E. W. Lane’s translation, the hero finds himself in the Valley of the Serpents: “Then I arose and emboldened myself and walked in that valley: and I beheld its ground to be composed of diamonds, with which they perforate minerals and jewels, and with which also they perforate porcelain and the onyx: and it is a stone so hard that neither iron nor rock have any effect upon it, nor can anyone cut off aught from it or break it, unless by means of the lead stone.... I then walked along the Valley, and while I was thus occupied, lo, a great slaughtered animal fell before me, and I found no one. So I wondered thereat extremely: and I remembered a story that I had heard long before ... that in the mountains of the diamonds are experienced great terrors, and that no one can gain access to the diamonds, but that the merchants who import them know a stratagem by means of which to obtain them: that they take a sheep and slaughter it, and skin it, and cut up its flesh which they throw down from the mountain to the bottom of the Valley: so descending, fresh and moist, some of these stones stick to it. Then the merchants leave it until midday, and birds of the large kind of vulture and the aquiline vulture descend to that meat, and, taking it in their talons, fly up to the top of the mountain: whereupon the merchants come to them and cry out at them and they fly away from the meat. The merchants then advance to that meat, and take from it the stones sticking to it: after which they leave the meat for the birds and the wild beasts and carry the stones to their countries. And no one can procure the stones but by means of this stratagem.” In his notes and comments on this passage, Mr. Lane says: "Though I believe that there is no known substance with which the diamond can be cut or ground except its own substance, I think it not improbable that the Eastern lapidaries may be acquainted with some ore, really—or supposed by them to be—an ore of lead, by which it may be broken, and that this is what is here called “the lead stone” or “the stone of lead.” It is well known that those diamonds unfit for any other purpose than that of cutting or grinding others, are broken in a steel “mortar.” In further notes on “The Valley of Diamonds,” Mr. Lane added the following: “El-Kaz-weenee after describing the diamond, saying ‘It breaketh all other stones except that of lead (el-usrub, a bad kind of lead): for if it be struck with this the diamond breaketh,’”—relates as follows: “To the place in which the diamond is found no one can gain access. It is a valley in the land of India, the bottom of which the sight reacheth not: and in it are venomous serpents which no one seeth but he dieth: and they have a summer abode for six months, and a winter abode (where they hide themselves) for the like period. El-Iskender (either Alexander the Great or the first Zu-l-Karneyn) commanded his men to take some mirrors and to throw them into the Valley that the serpents might see in them their forms and die in consequence. It is said also that he watched for the time of their absenting themselves (or retiring into their winter quarters) and threw down pieces of meat, and diamonds stuck to these: then the birds came from the sky and took pieces of that meat, and brought them up out of the valley whereupon El-Iskender ordered his companions to follow the birds and to pick up what they easily could of the meat.” The valley or valleys of diamonds we also find described by other writers, among them Marco Polo, in his account of the Kingdom of Murphili or Monsul. Mr. Marsden observes: “This is no other than Muchli-patan or, as it is more commonly named, Masuli-patam: the name of a principal town by a mistake not unusual, being substituted for that of the country.... It belongs to what was at one period termed the Kingdom of Golconda, more anciently named Teligana. Golconda, of which Masulipatam is the principal seaport, is celebrated for the production of diamonds.” In the astronomical observations of Mr. Topping, printed in Dalrymple’s Oriental Repertory, mention is made of the famous diamond mines of Golconda at a place named Malvellee, not far from Ellore. Caesar Fredericke who was at Bijanagar in 1567 mentions that the diamond mines were six days’ journey from that city. Es-Sindibad’s adventure in the Valley of Diamonds has been amply illustrated by the learned writer from whom the above remarks are borrowed, and by Hole. The following is an extract from Marco Polo’s Travels: “In the mountains of this Kingdom (Murphila) it is that diamonds are found. During the rainy season the water descends in violent torrents amongst the rocks and caverns, and when these have subsided the people go to search for diamonds in the beds of the rivers, where they find many. In the summer, when the heat is excessive and there is no rain, they ascend the mountains with great fatigue as well as with considerable danger from the number of snakes with which they are infested. Near the summit, it is said, there are deep valleys full of caverns and surrounded by precipices amongst which the diamonds are found, and here many eagles and white storks, attracted by the snakes on which they feed, are accustomed to make their nests. The persons who are in quest of the diamonds take their stand near the mouths of the caverns and from thence cast down several pieces of flesh which the eagles and storks pursue into the valleys and carry off with them to the tops of the rocks. Thither the men immediately ascend, drive the birds away, and recovering the pieces of meat frequently find diamonds sticking to them.” Mr. Marsden transcribes from Hole’s ingenious work part of a quotation from Epiphanius, upon which he remarks: “Thus it appears incontrovertibly that, so early as the fourth century of our era, the tale of the valley of diamonds and the mode of procuring the precious stones from it was current, divested, it is true, of the extraordinary incident of the adventurous sailor’s escape, but in conformity with what was related to Marco Polo—with the exception of the scene being laid in Scythia or Western Tartary where, in fact, diamonds are not found. The question of locality,” he adds, “is however determined by another Oriental navigator Nicoli di Conti, who visited the coast of the peninsula in the 15th Century....” Hole observes that a story somewhat resembling this of the Valley of Diamonds is recorded in the travels of Benjamin of Tudela and that the translator supposes it to have been borrowed from “The Thousand and One Nights.” “However,” he adds with better judgment, “I rather suspect that the account of Benjamin of Tudela and of Es-Sindibad were derived from some common origin.”
Horoscope of Kruger
Kruger’s Diamond was once in the possession of Chaka, the Zulu chief, killed by his brother who was in turn murdered. It is stated that this stone changed owners 15 times, tragedy following each possessor.
Perhaps the smallest diamond ring mentioned was placed by Cardinal Wolsey on the tiny finger of the little Princess Mary, aged just two years, daughter of Henry VIII, on October 5th, 1518, on the occasion of her marriage with the baby Dauphin of France, son of Francis I. The baby bride’s dress was of cloth of gold and her black velvet cap sparkled with jewels. Another historical diamond ring was that sent to the imprisoned Lord Lisle, giving freedom and forgiveness—an act so unexpected that it caused the unfortunate man to die of joy. The ring sent by Mary, Queen of Scots, to Queen Elizabeth, is described by Mr. William Jones, quoting from Aubrey, as “a delicate piece of mechanism consisting of several joints which, when united, formed the quaint device of two right hands supporting a heart between them. This heart was composed of two separate diamonds held together by a central spring which, when opened, would allow either of the hearts to be detached. Queen Elizabeth kept one moietie and sent the other as a token of her constant friendship to Mary, Queen of Scots, but she cut off her head for all that.” Another story of Elizabeth, quoted by Fairholt, is that Sir Walter Raleigh wrote on a window with his pointed diamond ring: “Fain would I rise, but that I fear to fall,” the Queen writing beneath with her ring: “If thy heart fail thee, do not rise at all.” Very different was the experience of Queen Isabella who was saved from death by a diamond. Ex-President Kruger’s diamond had a bad history that did not change with its different holders. In allusion to the Diamond Jousts instituted by King Arthur, Dr. Brewer says: “He named them by that name since a diamond was the prize. Ere he was King he came by accident to a glen in Lyonnesse, where two brothers had met in combat. Each was slain, but one had worn a crown of diamonds which Arthur picked up, and when he became King offered the nine diamonds as the prize of nine several jousts—‘one every year, a joust for one.’ Lancelot had won eight and intended to present them all to the Queen when all were won. When the knight laid them before the Queen, Guinevere in a fit of jealousy flung them out of the palace window into the river which ran below.”
Horoscope of Isabella II
This Queen was saved from assassination when the dagger of her would-be murderer glanced off the diamond she wore.
The affair of the Diamond Necklace is familiar to readers of history and romance. It attracted the perceptive mind of Dumas who moulded it into an interesting story, but of its reality no doubt has ever been entertained. The Prince Cardinal de Rohan, having entertained a secret affection for Queen Marie Antoinette, the Countess de Lamotte to forward her own nefarious designs persuaded him that the Queen reciprocated his passion. By thus working on the Cardinal’s feelings, Madame de Lamotte managed to relieve him of some sums of money, and succeeding so well in this way, she and her husband resolved on a more imposing venture. Louis XV had had made a wonderful diamond necklace which he intended as a present for his favorite Madame Du Barry. Before it was finished Louis had passed away, and his favourite had been driven from court. The necklace which was made by Boehmer consisted of 500 magnificent diamonds, the whole when completed being valued at 1,800,000 livres. Madame de Lamotte represented to the Cardinal the Queen’s desire for this handsome necklace, asking him as Her Majesty was at the time unable to pay the amount of the purchase money, which she said amounted to £700,000 sterling, to become security for her for this amount. This he gladly consented to do, and added his name to the forged signature of the Queen. On February 1st, 1786, the Cardinal carried the precious jewel to Versailles, whence by arrangement a messenger from the Queen was to take it. The next day, as arranged by Madame de Lamotte’s husband, an accomplice dressed in the uniform of a court official entered the Cardinal’s apartments at Versailles and muttering several times “De par la Reine” (in the Queen’s name) relieved the trusting Cardinal of the necklace. It was afterwards broken up and disposed of by these three conspirators, in England it is believed. Some time afterwards Boehmer, not receiving his payment, applied to Marie Antoinette for his money. She denied all knowledge of the affair. Boehmer thereupon brought the case before the Parlement de Paris in 1785, and in May, 1786, after a trial of 9 months, the Cardinal, Monsieur de Lamotte and his accomplice were acquitted, but Madame de Lamotte was sent to prison for life, each shoulder being branded with the letter V (Voleuse, thief).
The Indians were the first to polish a diamond with its own dust, but their cutting only consisted in burnishing the original facets or concealing defects by a number of new and smaller ones. Louis van Berghem is credited with being the first to cut and polish diamonds with their own dust in 1456, but both Emanuel and King refer to four large diamonds which adorned the clasp of the Emperor Charlemagne 1373, and to numerous cut specimens of older date set in church monuments. Emanuel mentions the skillful Herman who worked in the year 1407. Towards the end of the 16th Century, Peruzzi invented the double cutting known as “Brillants recoupes,” and of late years the modern cutters have reached a high degree of artistic excellence, producing the most beautifully cut specimens the world has seen. Clement Birago and Jacopo da Trezzo were the first to engrave upon the diamond, and both “enriched in the service of Philip II.” In giving the Papal Sacred Banner and Blessing to William of Normandy when about to invade England after the excommunication of Harold, Pope Hildebrand sent a diamond ring, said to enclose a hair from the head of Peter the Apostle. In the Comtesse d’Anois’ pretty fairy story, “The Yellow Dwarf,” the mermaid gives the captive King an all-conquering sword made from a single diamond, which rendered invincible anyone who carried it.
The diamond is astrologically under the sign of the Sun Leo, and has power especially in Aries and Libra. To dream of diamonds was considered symbolical of success, wealth, happiness and victory, and its reputed power of binding man and woman together in happy wedlock has made it a favourite stone for engagement rings, and in some countries for wedding rings.