The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-11-22
oems of The Orient.

Leisure dours among kne 0emSI
 The history of gems in the east Is the l.. story of the governing princes, tor @ of.en has the course of history in the 0rknf been aGected by inuigues about psec rus stones that they assume state lmpor.snee The traditional tiAmond in the eat IS the Great Mogul. The original weigh, of this stone vas 7S7 carats, but, by cutting. it wax reduced to 77o carz.s. The stone disappeared as the isss Tartar in>ssiou, when treAsures D the value of S,so oooooo were captured by Nadir Shah. h u believed to be as present hidden away iu some obscure fortress in Asia Minor. and |, may be re- covered at some future time Some ldea of the abundance of precious stones in the east may be gained from the fact that when Mahasoud, in the eleventh century captured Sunnat, an idol statue was broken open and found 10 contain three bushels of diamonds, rubies and emer- aids. Aia-ud-decn obtained from the raja oi Mahratfas fifty pounds ot dia- monds ahS rubies and IFS pounds of pearls- Shah Jehan, the greatest Of the Mogul ssvereigns, left . treasure of in- calculable value af hts death, throoe valued al { 50 GOO GOO and crown worth Sra GOO 900 The throne vas the cele brased peacock throne, 90 called from the images of tws pea ,ocks which stood be- fore il, each made of precious stones 90 matched in color and in position as to resemble the natural colors of the bird. The throne was SIX feet long and four feet vide, of solid gold and c-..sed with diamonds. rsbies and emeraIds. Steps of silver led up to tt, while canopy ot gold, fr,ngcd with pearls, supported by twelve pillars embiazone6 with gem , surmounsed the whole On each side vas . sacred umbrella made of velvet, embroidered wi,h pearls. the handle be- ing of gold inlaid xith diamonds. lt was the moa costly york of art ever made, It's only nvzl was the cerulean ss-s~se of the house ot Bahmenee in the Nisam. This wax built in the seventeenth century, was nine fees long by three feet wide, was made of ebony covered ~ith plates oi gold crustcd with germs. and ~as valued at S,ooooooo. \ late traveller in ,he east. Mir. EAs,wick. has recently given a graphic account of the mAgnlhecnce of the Persian cro~n jewels. In the jewel room he found reasures valued at 33S, = GOO GOO, among them the crown, mass of diamonds surmounted by ruby as big as hens egs. The kings belt is a wonder of bzrbauc magni6cence, weigh ing about twenty pounds and composed of a solid mass of diamonds, rubies and emerAldS. As Persia is the native land of the turquoise, |, is but natural that the finest stone of tan description is to be found in it's collection. This royal speci- men is four inches long, perfect in color, and wi,hou, flaw. When the shah was in Europe, some years ago, he wore a variety of diamonds and other precious stones that kept the detectives in con- stant fever of fear lest he should be robbed Of some of them. for one, even oi the smallest, would have been . fortune for half dozen thieves. The buttons oi his coat were five in number, and each button vas . diamond larger than the Kohinoor, while every pau of his cloth ing seemed to be sssfui, not ss . cover. ing for his body, but as places to hang diamonds on.