cutters of the Koh-i-noor at the present time
in almost precisely the same manner as invented by Berghen. The stone
is held in the proper position by being embedded, all but the salient
angle to be cut or polished, in a solder of tin and lead. It is then
applied to a rapidly-revolving horizontal iron wheel, constantly
supplied with diamond-dust, and moistened with olive-oil. The anxious
care and caution required in this operation render it a very tedious
one: the cutting of the Koh-i-noor will last many months, and be
attended with an immense expense. A still more tedious operation,
however, is sometimes performed by diamond-cutters, when it is found
necessary to cut a stone into two parts; it is termed sawing, and is
thus managed:--The stone to be sawn is scratched across in the desired
direction by a very keen splinter of diamond, technically termed a
_sharp_. An exceedingly fine iron wire, with a small portion of
sweet-oil and diamond-dust, is then laid upon this guiding scratch;
and the workman draws the wire backwards and forwards, as we may see
blocks of stone sawn on a larger scale in the yard of the statuary.
Still greater care and attention are required in this operation than
in diamond-cutting: seven months have been occupied in sawing a
good-sized stone. Sometimes the diamond is cut by two being cemented
each upon a separate handle, and rubbed together over a box, which
catches the precious dust as it falls; but the stones thus cut are
disfigured by scratches, and must subsequently be polished upon the
wheel.

For many years India supplied the rest of the world with diamonds; and
it was long supposed that they were not to be found in any other part
of the globe. The Portuguese settlers in Brazil, seeking for gold,
found a number of small stones resembling pebbles, which, from their
singularity, they kept as curiosities, using them as counters at their
card-tables. An officer, who had been removed from the Portuguese
settlements in India to serve in Brazil, suspected that these stones
were diamonds, and sent a few to Portugal. The jewellers of Lisbon,
having never seen a diamond in its unpolished state, laughed at the
idea of such rude pebbles being of any value, and so the inquiry was
for some time dropped. But the Dutch consul at Lisbon managed to
procure one of the stones, and sent it to Holland, then almost the
only country in Europe where diamond-cutting was pursued as a regular
business. The stone, in