of the
_Darya-i-nur_, "sea (or river) of light." It weighs 186 carats, and is
considered the diamond of finest lustre in the world. The principal
jewel of the left armlet, although of somewhat inferior size (146
carats) and value, is renowned as the _Taj-e-mah_, "crown of the moon."
The imperial armlets, generally set with jewels, may also be observed in
most of the portraits of the Indian emperors.

Bracelets have at all times been much in use among barbaric nations, and
the women frequently wear several on the same arm. The finer kinds are
of mother-of-pearl, fine gold or silver; others of less value are made
of plated steel, horn, brass, copper, beads, &c. Chinese bracelets are
sometimes cut out of single pieces of jade.

This species of personal ornament has been exceedingly common in Europe
from prehistoric times onward. The bracelets of the Bronze Age were of
either gold or bronze, silver being then unknown. In shape they were
oval and penannular with expanding or trumpet-shaped ends, having an
opening between them of about half an inch to enable them to be easily
slipped over the wrist. Those of gold were generally plain, hammered
rods, bent to the requisite shape, but those of bronze were often chased
with decorative designs. Some forms of spiral armlets of bronze,
peculiar to Germany and Scandinavia, covered the whole fore-arm, and
were doubtless intended as much for defence against a sword-stroke as
for ornament. Among the nations of classical antiquity, bracelets were
worn by both sexes of the Etruscans; by women only among the Greeks,
except in orientalized communities. Among the Romans they were worn by
women only as a rule, but they are also recorded to have been used
during the empire by _nouveaux riches_, and by some of the emperors. It
should also be mentioned that bracelets were conferred as a military
decoration in the field.

[Illustration: From _La Grande Encyclopedie_.

FIG. 2.--Greek Bracelet, Hermitage.]

The bracelets of the Greeks are of two leading types, both of which were
also familiar to the Assyrians. The one class were in the form of coiled
spirals, usually in the form of snakes, a term which Pollux gives as a
synonym for bracelet. The other class were stiff penannular hoops,
capable of being slightly opened. In such examples the terminals are
finely finished as rams' heads, lions' heads, or (as in the accompanying
figure from a bracelet found at Kuloba) as enamelled sphinxes. In la