with
their guns and ammunition, but the offer was contemptuously refused.
Very little is known of its history. It is now owned by the Government
of Portugal and is pledged as security for a very large sum of money.

It has been said that one could carry the Koh-i-noor in one end of a
silk purse and balance it in the other end with a gold eagle and a
gold dollar, and never feel the difference in weight, while the value
of the gem in gold could not be transported in less than four dray
loads!

Tradition says that Karna, King of Anga, owned it three thousand years
ago. The King of Lahore, one of the Indies, heard that the King of
Cabul, one of the lesser princes, had in his possession the largest
and purest diamond in the world. Lahore invited Cabul to visit him,
and when he had him in his power, demanded the treasure. Cabul,
however, had suspected treachery, and brought an imitation of the
Koh-i-noor. He of course expostulated, but finally surrendered the
supposed diamond.

The lapidary who was employed to mount it pronounced it a piece of
crystal, whereupon the royal old thief sent soldiers who ransacked the
palace of the King of Cabul from top to bottom, in vain. At last,
however, after a long search, a servant betrayed his master, and the
gem was found in a pile of ashes.

After the annexation of the Punjab in 1849, the Koh-i-noor was given
up to the British, and at a meeting of the Punjab Board was handed to
John (afterward Lord) Lawrence who placed it in his waistcoat pocket
and forgot the treasure. While at a public meeting some time later, he
suddenly remembered it, hurried home and asked his servant if he had
seen a small box which he had left in his waistcoat pocket.

"Yes, sahib," the man replied; "I found it, and put in your drawer."

"Bring it here," said Lawrence, and the servant produced it.

"Now," said his master, "open it and see what it contains."

The old native obeyed, and after removing the folds of linen, he said:
"There is nothing here but a piece of glass."

"Good," said Lawrence, with a sigh of relief, "you can leave it with
me."

The Sanci diamond belonged to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, who
wore it in his hat at the battle of Nancy, where he fell. A Swiss
soldier found it and sold it for a gulden to a clergyman of Baltimore.
It passed into the possession of Anton, King of Portugal, who was
obliged to sell it, the price being a million francs.

It shortly afterward became th