St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1891-04-25
,MoIA.s PRECIOUS STONES.


UuVOuSS - 0"e0UOOS SU~sVSOo
Discovered. Sometimes. By Persoas IeDo
rant of Their value.
An old traveller who has been ovel
half the world showed . reporter Z
handsome uncut ruby the other day
This, I" he said, ''is from India. and wal
given me by friend who found It while
out shooting" -
Precious stones, Ae said. were still
numerous in certain districts in India,
but the rajahs who own the property
were very jealous of all strangers, and
resented intrusions on their territory by
every means in their power. Neverthe.
less every now and then . fine specimen
was found by some sportsman Of way.
farer.
The traveller told of . party Of En-
glish officers who went out shooting one
day on one of these estates, but they
managed to bag very little game. On
their way back in the afternoon one
of them came across . stone resembling
nodule, which he picked up and
dashed upon q rock. The stone broke
into dozen pieces, and out dropped .
beautiful, brilliant pebble. This peb-
bic the young Englishman. who was .
tourist, picked up, and, after examin-
ing It, was about to throw Il away
again, but changed his mind and thrust
II into his pocket, remarking: IN keep
this thing as q memento of my visit to
this place where q fellow can hardly
find any thing to shoot, you know"
When he arrived at Bombay, this En-
glish tourist dropped into . jewelers.
store to have his watch repaired. In
taking it out he found the stone in the
same pocket, he threw IL upon the
counter and remarked to the jeweler:
"Aw, here's nice stone came across.
what'll you give me for it?''
The head of the firm took up the
stone, and rs he examined it his eyes
opened wider and wider. After hum
ming and having awhile, he said: I'm
give you 100 rupees for It."
Had the jeweler offered the tourist .
shilling for the stone the latter would
simply have told him to take the stone
and keep the shilling and be blowed, a.
up to that moment he thought it was
only piece of crystal. But the offer Of
100 rupees awolre his suspicious, and he
quickly guessed that it was . real. fine
diamond. Taking it from the jewelers.
hand he exclaimed with . laugh: 81
dare say You would give me 100 rupees,
and perhaps . trifie more, but I'm going
TO take it to England with me-" On his
arrival in London he sold the diamond
for e., 600.
A fal<ir walking along one Of the
wards in the same district also chanced
to pick up a fine large diamond that
had been washed out Of the ground by
. heavy shower and lay glistening and
blazing in the sun. He tied it mp in .
rag and put it into his empty tobacco
pouch and continued ON his way TO
town. Fakirs in India have little
money as rule, and this par.
faler had none at all. but
he did have strong craving for . quiet
smoke. So he betook himself to .
Parsee tobacconist and asked how much
tobacco he would let him have for pref
ty stone that showed green and red and
blue lights. The dealer asked to see the
stone and Immediately recognized It as
D diamond of the first water.
'Uncle," he remarked to the falrir,
since you are = poor man ri give you
, whole handful of tobacco" and he
grasped handful and thrust it into the
fakir's pouch.
my son." replied the falir, 81 have
travelled . long distance. and am very
tired. This is . beautiful stone, and
you ought to give me 1t least three
handsful of tobacco" ,-s
After some further haggling the Par
see agreed to keep the stone, after ex-
acting from the fakir . promise to keep
quiet about the matter. The Parsee
sent the stone to IN associate In Bonn
bay, where il was sold for s., 000.-N.
Y. Times