oes not sigh for it.
Here is a list of the gems, and the months to which they are
assigned by those soothtellers who know all the signs for luck,
good or ill: For January, garnet; February, amethyst; March,
jasper; April, sapphire; May, chalcedony; June, emerald; July,
onyx; August, carnelian; September, chrysolite; October,
aquamarine; November, topaz; December, ruby.
KRUGER'S UNLUCKY DIAMOND.
When Kruger went to Europe he took with him a famous
diamond, which was said to have brought misfortune and death
to all its possessors. It had a strange history.
The diamond originally belonged to Meshhesh, a Basuto chief,
from whom it was extorted by T'Chaka, the Zulu King. T'Chaka's brother
killed him and stole the stone. The brother came to grief and the
gem passed into the possession of a Zulu chief, who soon afterward
was assassinated. The natives say that no less than sixteen of the
successive possessors of the diamond were either killed or driven
out of the country for the sake of the gem.
The diamond was then seen by white men who sought to possess it.
A party of whites attacked the natives who had the stone in their
possession, and a fierce fight ensued, in which 300 lives, mostly
natives, were lost.
Memela, a native chief, took the gem and concealed it in a
wound which he had received in the battle. Afterward Memela
was caught by the Boers and set to work as a slave. Kruger,
hearing his story, released him, and in gratitude Memela gave
the stone to his liberator. Some years passed, and then Kruger
met his misfortune.
Where the fatal diamond is now is not certain, though it is
certain that the ex-President of the Transvaal parted with it.
Some say that it is in the coffers of the Vatican, and some that it
was sold to the Emperor of Austria, and is now among the
crown jewels of Vienna.
The stone is said to be 200 carats in weight, but is not perfect.--
_Baltimore Sun_.
STRANGE WILLS.
There have not been many will makers more eccentric than Mr.
MacCraig, the Scotch banker, whose last testament will shortly
come under the consideration of the Edinburgh Court of Session.
Mr. MacCraig it may be remembered left instructions in his
will that gigantic statues of himself, his brothers and sisters,
a round dozen in all, should be placed on the summit of a great
tower he had commenced to build on Battery Hill, near Oban--each
statue to cost not less than $5,000.
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A much more whims
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