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 trouble¹ 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 Adamante³ 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 of⁵ 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 polyce⁶ 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

1: Prismatic.

2: Pea.

3: Rocks of Magnetic Loadstone were then firmly believed in.

4: Hazel nuts.

5: Over.

6: Polish.

7: This description of the diamond is largely taken from Pliny, book 37, chap. iv.