_Of Inde the more, & Inde the lesse, & of diamonds, and small
people, & other things._
FROM Ethyope men go into Inde through many dyverse countreys, and it
is called Inde the more, and it is departed in three parties, that is
to say, Inde the more that is a full hote lande, & Inde the lesse is a
temperate land, and the thyrde part that is toward the north there
it is right cold, so that for greate colde, frost & yce, the water
becommeth Cristal & upon that groweth the good diamondes y^t is like a
trouble[1] colour, & that Diamonde is so harde that no man may breake
it. Other Diamonds men finde in Araby that are not so good for they
are more softer and some are in Cipres and in Macedony men also finde
diamondes but the best are in Inde & some are founde many times in a
masse that cometh oute where men fynde golde from the myne when men
breake the masse in pyeces, and sometyme men finde some of greatnesse
of a pese,[2] and some lesse, and those are as harde as those of Inde,
and all if it be that men fynde good dyamondes in Indie upon the
Roch of Crystall, also menne finde good dyamondes upon the Roch of
Adamante[3] in the sea and on hilles, as it were haysell noutes,[4]
and they are all square and poynted of theyre owne kynde, and they
grow both togither, male and female, and are noryshed with the dewe of
heaven, and they engendre commonly & bring forth small children that
multiply & growe all the yeare. I haue many times assayed that if a
man kepe them with a lyttle of the roche, and wette them with many
dewes oft times, they shal grow euery yeare, and the small shall waxe
greate. And a manne shall bere the Diamonde in his left side, and then
it is of more vertue, for the strength of theyr growing is toward the
North, that is on the lefte side as men of those countreys say. To him
that beareth the diamond upon him it giveth him hardinesse, it kepeth
his lims of his body hole, it giveth victory of[5] enimies if a mans
cause be ryght, and hym that bereth it in good will, it kepeth
him from strife, from ryote, ill dreames, and sorcerys, and
enchauntements, and no wylde beste shall greve him nor assaile him.
And also the Dyamonde shoulde be given freely without covetyse and
bying, & then it is of more vertue, it healeth him that is lunatyke,
and he that is travailed with a divell, and if venym or poyson be
brought in the presence of the Diamonde so soon it moysteth and
beginneth to sweate, and men may well polyce[6] them to make men
beleve that they may not be polyshed. But men may assaye them well in
this maner, fyrst cut with them an diverse precious stones, as Saphyrs
or other uppon Crystall and then men take a stone that is called
Adamande, lay a nedell before that Adamande and if the Diamond is
good & vertuous the Adamande draweth not the nedell to him whiles the
Diamonde is there. And this is the proof that they make beyonde the
sea. But it falleth sometime that the good diamond loseth his vertue
through him that wereth it, and therefore it is nedefull for to make
it to recover his virtue againe, or else it is lyttle of value.[7]
[Footnote 1: Prismatic.]
[Footnote 2: Pea.]
[Footnote 3: Rocks of Magnetic Loadstone were then firmly
believed in.]
[Footnote 4: Hazel nuts.]
[Footnote 5: Over.]
[Footnote 6: Polish.]
[Footnote 7: This description of the diamond is largely taken
from Pliny, book 37, chap. iv.]