Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 December 1885 — Pearls and Diamons. [ARTICLE]

Pearls and Diamons.

A London expert tells me that of old t,the world received each year new diamonds of about $250,0011 in value on the average. Suddenly, from South Africa, comes a now supply, exceeding $20,000,000 worth each year for ten years. In consequence, the price of diamonds has steadily fallen from sls to $3.75. Of course, it is known that when they go over a comparatively insigaificant number of carats, diamonds take a leap, into the thousands. Brazilian diamonds are very fine stones, but no stones found there or in the South African diamond fields are as lustrous and beautiful as the gems in the gala decorations of East Indian Princes, and those which have been obtained in India during the past century by conquest and purchase. These come mainly from the mines of Golconda. The ex-Khedive of Egypt, Ismail Pasha, is said to have the finest collection of diamonds, rubies, and emeralds in the world aggregating several hundred thousand dollars in value.' Large rubies of a lurid, lustrous red, without a blemish, are scarcer than bid diamonds, and are consequently nu*-. valuable. Ex-Queen Isabella of Spain is said to have the finest pearls in the world, and the mysterious loss of many of the most valuable gems in the Spanish crown jewels set the tongues of Spanish courtiers going. King Alfonzo, Isabella’s affectionate son, probably [thinks his maimna’s continued absence a pearl beyond price.! Martyr —that which All religions have furnished in about equal proportions, so much easier is it to die for religion than to live for it