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city_n	call_v	country_n	part_n	5,598	4	4.1644	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31680	The history of jewels, and of the principal riches of the East and West taken from the relation of divers of the most famous travellers of our age : attended with fair discoveries conducing to the knowledge of the universe and trade.; Histoire des joyaux et des principales richesses de l'Orient & de l'Occident. English	Chappuzeau, Samuel, 1625-1701.	1671 (1671)	Wing C1959; ESTC R19832	24,840	147

allowed a quarter per cent for what they want When you pay the Miners they receive not your Pagodes but in presence also of the Changer who certifies them of what is good or bad and he again allows his quarter per cent But to dispatch the sooner when they would make any payment that is considerable as a thousand o● two thousand Pagodes the Changer in allowing him hi● right puts them up in a little Bag with a Bill of its mark and when you would pay the Miner you carry them to the Cheraf together with the Bag and finding its mark entire he assures the Miner that he hath examined the whole and that he will be responsible for what is not good Now as for Roupies they take indifferently those of the Great Mogol and those of the King of Golconda because those which the King causes to be stamped are to be acccording to the Great Mogol's Coyn as is agreed upon between them And to shew you that these Indians have more wit and more subtilty than any one would think the Pagodes being little pieces of thick Gold of the bigness onely of the nail of the little finger and it being upon that account impossible to clip them they have the art to make little holes in them round about from whence they may get two or three pence of the powder of Gold after which they beat them down again handsomely that it may not appear that any one has touched them Moreover when you buy any thing in a Village or when you pass a River if you give them a Roupy they presently kindle a fire and having cast it into it if it cometh out white they take it if it cometh out black they restore it to you again for all the Coyn in the Indies is without Allay and if any of it be brought thither out of Europe it must be carried to the Mint to be new coyned We must adde that those people are deceived who do imagine that it sufficeth to carry Looking-Glasses to the Mines or Tobacco and such like Toyes to truck them for Diamonds our Travellers find the quite contrary and they desire there the best and fairest Gold Besides it is a thing undeniable that as Gold is the most heavy and richest of all Metals so is the Diamond the most hard and most precious of all Stones and it is a Vulgar Error of Ancient Authors to believe that the Diamond may be softened by the Blood of a Bull which is contrary to the experience of Lapidaries To conclude and to forget nothing in this Chapter 't is to be observed That the Diamond in the Miners Language is called Iri and in Turkish Persian and Arabian 't is called Almas but in all the Languages of Europe there is no other Name besides Diamond I come to Coloured Stones and particularly to the Ruby and the Emerauld which hold amongst Jewels a very considerable place CHAP. II. Of Coloured Stones THere are discovered but two places in the Indies from whence they bring Coloured Stones viz. in the Realm of Pegu and in the Island of Ceylan The first is from a Mountain about 12 dayes journey from Ava inclining to the N. East which they call Capelan and it is the Mine from whence they bring the greatest quantities of Rubies and Espinelles otherwise Mother of Rubies Yellow Topazes Blew and White Saphires and other Stones of different Colours amongst which they find also some of divers Colours yet very tender which they call Bacan in that Countrey Language Siren is the City where the King of Pegu hath his Residence and Ava is the Port to his Countrey from Ava to Siren they go up the River in great Flat-bottomed Boats in which Voyage they spend at least thirty dayes They cannot go thither by Land because of the thick Woods full of Lions Tygers and Elephants and in a word it is one of the poorest Countreys in the World Nothing comes thence but Rubies and not in so great quantities as is believed seeing that every year there comes not out to the value of an hundred thousand Crowns and amongst them you 'll very rarely find a Stone of four or five Carrats that is fair considering the Prohibition against exporting any parcels which the King hath not seen who keepeth the good ones if he findeth any so that there is a considerable profit in bringing one of them out of Europe into Asia from whence we may judge whither the relation of Vincent le Blane be true wherein he boasts to have seen some as he entered into the Countrey of the bigness of Eggs. 2. The price of Rubies which cometh next the Diamond in dignity goes thus They weigh them by the Rati and one Rati maketh 7 8 of our Carrát A Ruby at the Mine of the weight of one Rati hath been bought for old Pagodes 20. Of 2 Rati Pagod 100. Of 3 Rati Pagod 250. Of 4 Rati Pagod 500. Of 5 Rati Pagod 900. Of 6 Rati Pagod 1500. Of 7 Rati Pagod 2300. Of 12 Rati Pagod 1200. The second place of the Indies from whence they bring Stones of Colour is in a great River of the Isle Ceylon they are found in the sand at low water three or four moneths after the rains have past and the poor people are employed in seeking for them The Stones which they ordinarily find there are clear more lively than those of Pegu and of a very high colour especially the Topaz As for Granats and Chrystal they find a great quantity of them At such time as Don Philippo Mascarini was Governour of those places which the King of Portugal had in the Isle of Ceylon the Chief of which was Columbo he who since was Vice-Roy of Goa he caused all the Moveables of a Chamber to be made of Chrystal viz. Bed Chairs Table Cabinet c. 'T is true that in Europe there are also two other places from which they bring Stones of Colour that is to say from Bohemia and Hungaria from this they bring Opales and in the other there be Rubies which they take out of the middle of certain Flints after they be broken these Flints are like to the Stones of Fire-locks inclining towards red some as big as the fist some less but many of them may be broken before you find one Rubie When the Son of the Emperour Ferdinand 2. was crowned King of Bohemia General Wallestein presented the Governour of Raab at Prague with a great Basket full of these Flints to the number of above two hundred This Lord caused some of these to be broken but not finding more than one small Ruby of the weight of half a Carrat he made them leave the others unbroken The curious Reader will not find it tedious to know further from whence they fetch the Lapis and Granate I cannot tell the reason why they have given the Name of Syrien to this seeing it was never found in Syria but far from thence thirty days

a Mosk to the Kings of the Moors who reigned in those places In the Fleet which came from the the Indies in the year 1587 there were two great Chests of Emeralds from whence we may judge of the great quantity which is found in America In a word as there is nothing but the rarity that gives value to things so the price of the Emerald would be much enhanced if it were as rare as the Diamond CHAP. III. Of PEARLS THe Pearl hath been at all times so much esteemed that the Gospel does not disdain by this to represent to us the Excellency of the Kingdome of Heaven and it belonged formerly onely to Royal Persons to wear them without dispute 't is one of the richest productions of Nature and if we believe the Naturalists Pearl is ingendred of the dew of heaven in those parts of the Earth where it is most pure and serene And the Cockle opening at the first Rayes of the Sun to receive those precious drops plungeth into the Sea with its booty and conceives in its Shell the Pearl which resembles the heavens and imitateth its clearness this admirable Pearl which men seek with so much industry so that heaven does visibly contribute to its generation and impresses the most Celestial Vertues and Qualities which Physick was ever able to boast of and whereof she makes use for a Sovereign Remedy yet for all that all the World does not agree as to this with the Ancient Naturalists and the sequel of this Discourse will make appear that they are deceived in some things But before we speak of the manner how they fish for Pearl and of their different Qualities we must make report of the divers places of the World where they are found First of all then they have discovered four Fishing Places for Pearl in the East the most considerable is performed in the Isle of Bahren in the Persian Golph the which appertains to the Sophy of Persia who receives thence a great Revenue While the Portugals were Masters of Ormus and Mascati every Vessel which went to fish was obliged to take a Passport from them at a dear rate and they maintained alwayes five or six small Galleys in the Gulph to sink those Barks which took no Pasports but at present they have no farther power upon those Coasts and each Fisher payeth to the King of Persia not above one third of what they gave to the Portugals The second Fishing is over against Bahren upon the Coast of Arabia Foelix near to the City of Catif which belongeth to an Arabian Prince who commandeth that Province The most part of the Pearls which are fished in these two places are carried into India because that the Indians are not so hard but give a better price for them than we they are therefore carried thither the unequal as well as the round the yellow as well as the white every one according to its rate some of them also are sold at Balsora and those which are transported into Persia and Moscovy are sold at Bandarcongue two dayes journey from Ormus They fish twice in a year in the Moneths of March and April and in the Moneths of August and September the depth where they fish is from four to twelve fathoms and the deeper the Oister is found the Pearls are the whiter because the water is not so hot there the Sun not being able to penetrate so deep The third fishing is by the Isle of Ceylon at a place which is called Manar the Pearls which are found there are of a good water but small and the greatest do not surpass two Carrats and it is seldom that they are found of that weight but in recompence of this there is great quantity of Seed Pearl fit to powder The fourth and last Fishing in the East is at Japan the Pearls there are of a water white enough and heavy but unequal those of Japan sell them all to the Holland Company for they make no account as I shall let you know in order of any Jewel In the West are discovered five Pearl Fishings the first is in the Island Margarita two and twenty leagues from the firm land this Isle is thirty five leagues about and hath a good Haven towards the North at the East point it is all encompassed with rocks it is fruitful enough but there is want of water and the inhabitants go up into the Countrey to furnish themselves with it yet there are great store of Cattel and it beareth Maize and other things necessary for those who live there The second Fishing was discovered in the year 1496 by the Isle of Cubagua a league from the former in the Gulph of Mexico it is in ten degrees and an half of Northern Latitude an hundred and threescore Leagues from St. Domingo in Hispaniola and an hundred from Santa Cruz one of the Careeby Islands and four Leagues from the Province of Aria which is part of the Continent it is much less than Margarita without Cattel or any other thing which may serve for the sustenance of man particularly it wanteth water but the inhabitants are furnished from the Continent from a River called Comana seven Leagues from New Cadis This Island Cubagua was discovered by that famous Genouese Christopher Columbus who having perceived a small Boat with some Fishers in it and a Woman who had three rows of fair Pearl about her Neck said to his Companions That he thanked God he had now discovered the most rich Countrey in the World He broke an Earthen Plate of divers Colours and for a piece or two of it this Woman gave him very willingly a row of these Pearls and for another Plate he received many others and I darned of the Indians the place and manner of their Fishing for Pearls The third is at Comana near the Continent The fourth is called Comanagote twelve Leagues from the former The fifth and last is at the Isle of St. Martha threescore Leagues from the River La Hache All the Pearls of these five Fishings are of a white water weak dry faint milky or leady not but that they find some fair ones but they have not so live a water as those of the East in recompence they are great ones in weight from eighteen to forty two Carrats and are almost all of the shape of a Pear These Five Fishings of which I have spoken are all in the North Sea but they find also great quantities in the South Sea near to Panama they are long rather than round but not so fair as the other and ordinarily are somewhat black for the Indians opened the Oyster by Fire till Vasques Nugnez taught the Cacique to open them without it and since they find the Pearls whiter Experience teacheth us that Oysters change their places as well as other Fish and that they pass sometimes to one side of the Island and sometimes to the other It is is a considerable curiosity to know how they fish for Pearls