The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-02 00:00:00

THE KOH-I-NOOR, OR. MOUNTAIN
OF LIGHT.
Her Majesty's steam-sloop Medea has just arrived
at Portsmouth, with a freight more precious, in nomi-
nal value, than was ever carried from Peru to Cadiz.
Major Mackeson, one of her passengers, a meritorious
and distinguished officer, brings with him that famous
diamond of the East called, in the fondness of Asiatic
hyperbole, the Koh- i-noor, or Mountain of Light, which,
after symbolizing the revolutions of ten generations
by its passage from one conqueror to another, comes
now, in the third centenary of its discovery, as
the forfeit of Oriental faithlessness and the prize of
Saxon valour, to the distant shores of England. It
was in the year 1550, before the Mogul dynasty had
been established by the prowess of the great Akbar,
that this marvellous stone was first brought to light
in the celebrated mines of Golconda. The kingdom
of this name constituted one of the five Mahometan
Statps which towards the close of the 15th century
had been formed in the Deccan. The diamond
mines which :have rendered it so famous
in story were situated at some distance to the east
of the capital city, near the present statian of
Condapilly, and are now in our possession, though
they have long ceased to reward or invite the la-
bours of treasure-seekers. When the Mogul Princes
extended their pretensions to the sovereignty of the
Deccan, Kootub Shah, then King of Golconda, was
brought into collision with Sash Jehaun, the reign-
ing Emperor, and father of the great Aurungzebe.
Kootub Shah's Prime Minister at this period was
the famous Meer Jamie, a statesman who to political
abilities of unusual excellence added a singular
knowledge of precious stones. He had, in fact, been
at one time a diamond merchant, and was therefore
peculiarly competent to appreciate the treasures of
Golconda. It happened, too, that Shah Jehaun him-
• self was a connoisseur of scarcely less skill, inso-
much that when at a later period he had
been dethroned and imprisoned by his father,
and a doubt had been created respecting
the value of a certain ruby in the Im-
perial Treasury, the gem was actually trans-
mitted to the deposed Prince fir his inspection and
decision. Two such characters were well fieted fir
• the transaction which ensued. Shah Jehaun took up
the cause of Meer Jumla against his Sovereign, and
the Koh-i-noor passed from Golconda to D
While the kingdoms of the Deccan were suc-
cessively absorbed in the culminating dominion of
• the Mogu't, the Koh-i-noor rested among the
treasures of Impe: ial Delhi, where, on the
24 of November, 1635, it was seen by the
French traveller Tavernier, who, by the ex-
traordinary indulgenceof Aurungzebe, wee permitted
• to har die, examine, and weigh ite being the first, and
till now, probably, the last European who bad ever
enjoyed such a privilege. The Great Mogul sate on
his throne of State, while the chief keeper of the
jewels produced his treasures for inspection on two
• golden dishes. The magnificence of the collection
was indescribable, but coretpicuous in lustre, es-
teem, and value was the Koh-i-noor. Sometimes
worn on the person of the Mostuls, sometimes
adorning the famous peacock throne, this in-
estimable gem was safely preserved at Delhi
• until, in 1739, the empire received its fatal blow
from the invasion of Nadir Shah. Arnonet the spoils
of conquest which the 2ersien warrior carried hack
. with him in triumph to Khorasean, and which have
been variously estimated as worth from 30 to 90
millions sterling, the Kos-i-noor was the most
precious trophy, but it was destined to pass from
Persia as quickly as that ephemeral supremacy in
virtue of which it had been acquired. Nadir etha'a
had entertained in his service a body or Affehans
of the Abdalee tine under the leadership of
Ahmed S=uh, who also served his master in the
capacity of treasurer, and when the Persian conqueror
was assassinated by his subjects, the .A.fikhans, 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, be speedily created in Caubul. It seemed as
if the Koh d•noor carried with it the sovereignty of
Hindostan, for the conquests of Ahmed were as de-
cisive as these of Nadir, and it was by his nomination
- and patronage that the last Emperor asce.nded the throne
of the Moguls. At the beginning of the present cen-
tury the treasures and power of Ahmed were vested
in the person of Zemaun Shah, subject to the inces-
sant 3w:tufts 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, 40 years
later, of our famous Caubul expedition, 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 Caubul was wanting in
its most precious ornament, till at length, ingeniously
secreted in the wall of Zemaun Shah's prison, was
discovered the Kolni-noor. It was eight years
after this, while the Doorannee monarchy was still fel.-
midable 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-noor 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 Ileurs -delis ,
and in a bracelet on his right arm blazed the price-
less jewel of Golcoada. The Prince gave a gracious
audience to the Ambassador, and Mr. Elpbinstone
retired, but the Koh-i-noor was not fated long
to continue in the divided and tottering family
of the once powerful Abdallees. The embassy
bad scarcely recrossed the Indus when Shah Shuja
W 33 expelled from Caubul, though he con-
trived to make this far-famed diamond the com-
panion of his flight. After many vicissitudes of exile
and contest he at length found an equivocal refuge
under the protection of- that powerful chieftain who
bad now consolidated the dominions of the Seikbs into
a royal inheritance for his own family. Runjeet Singh
was fully competent either to the defence or the
restoration of the fugitive, but he knew or
suspected the treasure in his possession, and
his mind was bent upon acquiring it. Ile
pntdhe Shah under strict surveillance, and made a
- formal demand for the jewel. The Doorannee Prince
hesitated, prevaricated; temporized, and employed all
the artifices of Oriental diplomacy, hut in vain. Runs
jest redoubled the stringency of his measures, and at
length the Ist of June, 1813, was fixed at the day when
the great diamond of the Meeuls should be surren-
dered by the Abdallee Chief to the ascendant
dynasty of the Singhe. The two Princes met in a
room appointed for the purpose, and took their seats
on• the ground. A solemn silence then ensued which
continued unbroken for an hour. At length
Runjeet's impatience overcame the suggestions
of Asiatic decorum, and he whispered to an attend-
ant to quicken the memory of the Shah. The
exiled Prince spoke not a word in reply, but gave
a signal with his eyes to a eunuch in attendance,
who, retiring for a moment, returned with a small roll
which he set down upon the carpet midway between the
two chiefs. Again a pause followed, when at a sign
from Runjeet the roll was unfolded, and there in its
matchless and unspeakable brilliancy glittered the Koh-
i-noor. In this way did the " Mountain of light" pass
in the train of conquest and as the emblem of dominion,
from Golconda to Delhi, from Delhi to Mushed,
. _ from Mashed to Caubul, and from Caubul to Lahore,
verifying by the esteem which it everywhere com-
manded the perspicacity and judgment of Meer
Jumla (who is the Mirsimola of Tavernier's travels)
and the Prince Shah Jehaun. Excepting the some-
what doubtful claims of the Brazilian stone among
the Crown jewels of Portugal, the Koh-i-noor is the
largest known diamond in the world. When first
given to Shah Jehaun it was still uncut, weighing,
it is said, in that rougb state, nearly 800 carats,
which were reduced by the unskilfulness of the
artist to 279, its present weight. It was cut by
Hortensio Borgis, a Venetian, who, instead of receiv-
ing a remuneration for his labour, was fined 10,000
rupees for his wastefulness by the enraged Mogul.
In form it i 3 "rote cut"—that is to say, it is cut
to a point in a series of small faces, or " facets,"
without any tabular surface. A good general
idea may be formed of its shape and size by conceiv-
ing it as the pointed half of a small hen's egg, though
it is said not to have risen more than half an inch from
the gold setting in which it was worn by Runjeet.
Its value is scarcely computable, though two mil-
lions sterling has been mentioned as a justifiable
price if calculated by the scale employed in
the trade. The Pitt diamond brought over from
-Madras by the gentradfather of Lord Chatham, and
sold eo the Regent Orleans in 1717 for
125,0001., weighs scarcely 130 carats ; nor
does the great diamond which supports the
Eagle on the summit of the Russian sceptre
weigh as much as 200. Such is the ex -
traordinary jewel which in virtue of conquest and
sovereignty has passed into the possession of Eng-
land. It was prudently secured among the few re
valuables of the Lahore Treasury at the
-n, and although
nadequete coin
rs, we may look
a of that supre-
Times.

maining vatuames of fif
commencement of the last insurrection, and although
even N nominal value would be an inadequate corn
-,Veusation for the cost of the Seikh wars, we may look
its acquisition as a fitting symbol of that supre-
. which we have so fairly won.—Times.
121 p„ SUGAR.—A vess:l belonging to
aware of .in the &chi fro.na Riga, having on board
linssian po .r as pin: of her cirgo. We are not
of sugar, direct from one of the
• • fore taken place._