In order to attain the valuable obj efts, the merchants with great
labor afcend the mountains, and fling into the- valley greaf
pieces o f flefh, the eagles inftantly feize and carry them into,
their, ncfts, with quantities, o f diamonds flicking to, them; they
follow the eagle, and colleft all they can find, but it fometimes
happens that the birds fwallow the ftones with the meat;, the
merchants watch the roofting. places,,and recover the diamonds,,
which they find in the droppings. Part of this .fable is adopted
by the author o f the Arabian. Nights Pales, the only book in.
which it ought to be found-
Pitt’s Dia. I s h a l l not detain my reader longer than to eive him the-
MOND. Q
fize o f two o f the moft capital, ftones yet ever found ; the one.
graced the. hat o f the two laft monarchs of France on days of.
ftate. It is known; by the name o f the Regent,, having been
purchafed by the Duke of Orleans in the minority of Louis XV.
Its weight in the rough’was 410 carats; when cut 135; or if.oz;;,
the cutting ooft £.4,500; the chips were-worth £.8,000; the
diamond duft ufed in cutting it eoft £..1,400. This had been
the property of Thomas P itt, governor of Fort St. George, whom;
Pope charges with coming by the diamond in the following,
manner, exprefled in his admirable hiftory o f Sir, Balaam.::
Alleep and naked as an Indian lay,,
-An honeft factor ftole the gem away.j
He pledg’d it to the knight, the knight had wit,.
So kept the diamond,, and'the rogue was bit..
I h a v e little doubt but the poet in this ihftance,.as in many
others, gave way to his waipiih humour, and having caught at
fome
Tome ill-founded ftory, gave it full credit. P itt was very much
hurt by the lines, arid on his death-bed made a declaration that
he bought it o f a Brahmin for £. 20,400; that was not thought
fufficient, a farther vindication was given in his funeral fer-
mori. It is faid that £. 80,000 had been offered for it by a private
perfon; the price given by the Regent was £. 135,000.
T h e Emprefs o f Ruffia had a ftill larger gem, one o f the
weight o f 193 carats when cut. This had been the property
O f an American, who fold it to Count Orloff for £.104,166, and
the favorite beftowed it on his Imperial miftrefs.
W e now defcend out o f Golconda, and crofling the Kijlnab G untook.
enter on a part of a new fovereignty, a ftnall di ft rift called the
Guntoor, pofiefled in 1780 by Nizam Ally, fon to the famous
Nizam al Muluc, whom I have before mentioned to have borne
fo diftinguiihed and difloyal a part in the ruinous invafion o f
Hindoojlan, by Kouli Khan, in 1739. This was an unfortunate
interruption of our line of coaft, as it lies between us and what
are called the northern Circars, but this has lately been ceded
to us. It is now. reckoned among the northern Circars, which
comprehends the Guntoor, Condappily, Ellore, Rajamundry, and
Cicacole, a narrow maritime traft o f vaft extent, and the great-
eft part running direft north by eaft.
F r o m Kijinah point the land turns a few miles to the north-
eaft, and finiihes with that of Divi, projefting from an ifle
formed by the river : This, with another point about fifty miles '
diftant, makes a fine femilunar bay, a traft now divided between
Condapilly and Ellore. Almoft immediately within point Divi,
in the Circar Condapilly, lies MaJJitlipatam, in Lat. i6’ S' 30", in M a s s u u p a t a m .
the diftrift called by Ptolemy, Mejp)lia. f1 From hence,” fays
Q 2 he,