A DIAMOND SELL.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 1015, 22 December 1881, Page 4

A DIAMOND SELL.

A well-known London diamond merchant went out to Brazil to buy precious stones, seeking them, naturally, not in the big cities, but a smaller place along the coast. The local steamer to which he had transhipped was one day about to leave some out-of-the-way port, when an Indian came on board selling skins; he also displayed some little shining pebbles, which he did not seem to set much store by. The merchant reputed to be one of the best judges in England—saw at a glance they were small diamonds,’ and carelessly offered a few reis apiece for them, which the Indian gladly took ; then, appearing to have thus discovered a new branch of commerce, he produced an immense one attached to a string around his neck—one so large and valuable, that the dealer, in his eagerness to obtain it, was thrown off his guard, and offered so much for it that the dusky possessor’s suspicions were excited. When I say “so much” I do not suppose the sum was so intrinsically great, perhaps not more than a shilling or two ; but it was out of all proportion to what he had paid for the other. The Indian refused. More and more money was promised and displayed before his eyes in glittering piles. Rum, knives, shawls, and all sorts of commodities were thrown in, but without avail. If the pale face wants this bit of stone so much, he might be supposed to argue within his “ untutored mind,” it must be of some great power or value—perhaps an amulet or charm of supernatural virtue. Superstitious and obstinate like all his race, he would not part with it on any terms ; but hastened to conceal it about him again, and hurried on shore. The merchant was frantic ; such an opportunity was not to be allowed to slip without making some effort. He paid the fine—no inconsiderable sum—for detaining the steamer in port another day, and roamed all over the neighborhood, searching high and low for the Indian. No glimpse of him, however, could he get, nor any tidings of his whereabouts. At last, on the following morning, when he had given up the quest in despair, and the vessel was again about to proceed on her way, the innocent savage made his appearance on board once more, and expressed his willingness to sell the diamond, but he now asked for it a sum which would be a fair equivalent of that size. The bar 2 gain was at last made ; the gold-laden Indian paddled back to his native wilds and the steamer getting under way’ soon left his canoe a mere speck of the waves. The happy purchaser then sped to his cabin, locked himself in, sat down to gloat over his newly acquired treasure, and—report says—• fainted. Paste I A good imitation, certainly, but to his practised eve unmistakable paste. He had been misled by the genuineness of the small stones, and his eagerness to secure the large one for comparatively nothing, and utter absence of grounds for suspicion, bad caused him to disregard the little opportunity he had for examining it. The whole thing was a most ingenious plot, devised by some Yankee swindlers, who, with the “ noble red man ” as their ally, had been wailing for him ever since he arrived in Brazil; baiting their hook with a, few real sprats, they landed a whale.