The number of diamonds which exceed a hundred carats in weight when cut is very limited. Their extreme costliness renders them something more than mere ornaments; in a condensed and portable form they represent great wealth and all the potentiality for good or ill thereby entailed, and have played no small, if sinister, rôle in the moulding of history. In bygone days when despotic government was universal, the possession of a splendid jewel in weak hands but too often precipitated the aggression of a greedy and powerful neighbour, and plunged whole countries into the horrors of a ruthless and bloody war. In more civilized days a great diamond has often been pledged as security for money to replenish an empty treasury in times of stress. The ambitions of Napoleon might have received a set-back but for the funds raised on the security of the famous Pitt diamond. The history of such stones—often one long romance—is full of interest, but space will not permit of more than a brief sketch here. If we except the colossal Cullinan stone, the mines of Brazil and South Africa cannot compare with the old mines of India as the birthplace of large and perfect diamonds of world-wide fame. (1) KOH-I-NOR [Illustration: FIG. 61.—Koh-i-nor (top view).] [Illustration: FIG. 62.—Koh-i-nor (side view).] The history of the famous stone called the Koh-i-nor, meaning Mound of Light, is known as far back as the year 1304, when it fell into the hands of the Mogul emperors, and legend even traces it back some four thousand years previously. It remained at Delhi until the invasion of North-West India by Nadir Shah in 1739, when it passed together with an immense amount of spoil into the hands of the conqueror. At his death the empire which he had so strenuously founded fell to pieces, and the great diamond after many vicissitudes came into the possession of Runjit Singh at Lahore. His successors kept it until upon the fall of the Sikh power in 1850 it passed to the East India Company, in whose name it was presented by Lord Dalhousie to Queen Victoria. At this date the stone still retained its original Indian form, but in 1862 it was re-cut into the form of a shallow brilliant (Fig. 62), the weight thereby being reduced from 186-1/16 to 106-1/16 carats. The wisdom of this course has been severely criticized; the stone has not the correct shape of a brilliant and is deficient in ‘fire,’ and it has with the change in shape lost much of its old historical interest. The Koh-i-nor is the private property of the English Royal Family, the stone shown in the Tower being a model. It is valued at £100,000. (2) PITT OR REGENT [Illustration: FIG. 63.—Pitt or Regent (top view).] [Illustration: FIG. 64.—Pitt or Regent (side view).]