Travels in India (Tavernier) 92: BOOK II
Travels in India (Ball) 92
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BOOK II
92.1
Shah Jahan sent to demand tribute from this Raja, both for the present and the past; and the Raja, as his property was not sufficient to discharge the whole, quitted the country and fortified himself together with his subjects in the mountains. Upon the news of the refusal which the Raja first made, Shah Jahan, who did not know that he purposed to hide, but believed that he intended to defend himself, sent an army into his country, where he was persuaded that he would find an abundance of diamonds. It happened otherwise, however, for those who were sent into the country of the Raja found neither diamonds, inhabitants, nor food, the Raja having ordered all the grain which his subjects could not carry with them to be burnt, and this was so effectually done that the greater portion of Shah Jahan’s army perished of famine. The final result of the matter was, that the Raja returned to his country on agreeing to pay a light annual tribute to the Great Mogul. The following is the route to be followed from Agra to this mine:— From Agra to Halabas (Allahabad) . 130 coss, „ Halabas to Banarous (Benares) . 33 ,, ,, Banarous to Saseron (Sasseram) . 4 ,, From Agra to Sasseram you travel eastwards, but between Sasseram and the mine you turn to the south and come first to a large town — 21 coss. This town belongs to the Raja of whom I have just spoken, to whom the country belongs which is traversed by the river in which the diamonds are found.
92.2
After this town one reaches a fortress called Rohtas — 4 coss. It is one of the strongest places in Asia, situated upon a mountain having six great bastions and twenty-seven pieces of cannon, with three trenches full of water where there are good fish. There is but a single path by which to ascend the mountain, where there is a plain of half a league or so in area, where corn and rice are cultivated. There are more than twenty springs which irrigate the soil, and all about the mountain from the base to the top there are precipices covered for the most part with forests. The Rajas ordinarily held this fortress with from 700 to 800 men, but it at present belongs to the Great Mogul, who acquired it by the skill of that great Captain Mir Jumla of whom I have so often had occasion to speak. The last Raja left three sons who betrayed each other; the eldest was poisoned, the second attached himself to the court of the Great Mogul, who gave him the command of 4000 horse, and the youngest maintains his position in the country by paying tribute like his father. All the Kings of India, successors of Tamerlane, have besieged this place without being able to take it, and indeed two of these Kings died in the city of Sasseram. From the Fortress of Rohtas to Soumelpour it is 30 coss.
92.3
Soumelpour is a large town with houses built of clay only, and thatched with the branches of the cocoa-nut tree. These thirty coss traverse forests which are dangerous, because the thieves, who know that merchants do not visit the mine without carrying money, attack them sometimes for the purpose of murdering them. The Raja lives at half a coss distance from the town, and his dwelling is in tents placed on an eminence. The Koel passes the fort, and it is in this river that the diamonds are found. It comes from the high mountains to the south and loses its name in the Ganges. This is the manner in which diamonds are sought for in this river. After the great rains are over, that is to say usually in the month of December, the diamond seekers await the conclusion of the month of January, when the river becomes low, because at that time, in many parts, it is not more than two feet deep, and much of the sand is left uncovered. Towards the end of January or commencement of February, from the town of Soumelpour and also from another town which is 20 coss higher up the same river, and from some small villages on the plain, about 8000 persons of both sexes and of all ages capable of working assemble.
92.4
Those who are expert know that the sand contains diamonds beneath, when they find small stones in it which resemble those we call “thunder stones.” They commence to search in the river at the town of Soumelpour and proceed up-stream to the mountains where it takes its rise, which are situated about 50 coss from the town. In the places where they believe there are diamonds they excavate the sand in the following manner. They encircle these places with stakes, fascines, and clay, in order to remove the water and dry the spot, as is done when it is intended to build the pier of a bridge. They then take out the sand, but do not excavate below the depth of two feet. All this sand is carried and spread upon a large place prepared on the banks of the river and surrounded by a low wall of a foot and a half high, or thereabouts. They make holes at the base, and when they have filled the enclosure with as much sand as they think proper, they throw water upon it, wash it and break it, and afterwards follow the same method as is adopted at the mine which I have above described.
92.5
It is from this river that all the beautiful points come which are called naives (natural points), but a large stone is rarely found there. It is now many years since these stones have been seen in Europe, in consequence of which many merchants have supposed that the mine has been lost, but it is not so ; it is true, however, that a long time has elapsed since anything has been obtained in this river on account of the wars. I have spoken elsewhere of another mine of diamonds in the Province of Carnatic, which MÎR JUMLA, General-in-Chief and Prime Minister of State of the King of Golconda, commanded to be closed, not wishing that it should be worked further, because the stones from it, or rather from these six mines (for there are six of them, close to one another) were all black or yellow, and not one of good water. There is, finally, in the Island of Borneo, the largest of all the islands in the world, a river called SUCCADAN, in the sand of which beautiful stones are found, which have the same hardness as those of the river Koel, or of the other mines of which I have made mention. General Vandime once sent six of them, of 3 to 4 carats each, from Batavia to me at Surat, and he believed that they were not so hard as those from other mines, in which he was mistaken, because there is no difference in that respect; it was in order to ascertain the fact that he sent them to me.
92.6
When I was at Batavia one of the chief officers of the Company showed me a point naive of 25 carats, a perfect stone, obtained in this river of Succadan. But at the price which he told me it had cost him he had paid more than 50 per cent more than I should have been willing to buy it for. It is true that I have always heard that these stones are very dear. The principal reason which has prevented me from going to this river of Borneo is that the Queen of the Island does not allow foreigners to carry away the stones, and there are great difficulties in conveying them thence — the insignificant number which are carried away secretly are sold at Batavia. I shall be asked, without doubt, why I only mention the Queen of Borneo, and not the King. The reason is that in this Kingdom it is the women who govern and not the men, because the people are so particular about having for their sovereign a legitimate heir to the throne that the husband not being certain that the children which he believes to have had by his wife are his very own, and the wife being, on the contrary, quite certain that the children are hers, they prefer to have a woman for their ruler, to whom they give the title of Queen, her husband being her subject, and not having more power than that which she chooses to confer upon him.