Page:A treatise on diamonds and precious stones including their history Natural and commercial.djvu/85

 particular specimens attracted the notice of the negroes, who shewed them to their masters, as pretty shining pebbles. They were preserved apart when met with, and gradually came into fashion as counters in playing at cards. The people were wholly ignorant of their value, though their striking appearance, and their regularity of form created a general interest in them, similar to that which induces persons to collect pebbles and shells on the beach at Scarborough, &c.

this state the gems remained for some time, until an officer arrived, who had been in India, and was reputed to be a mathematician. At the social parties which he visited, these pretty counters attracted his notice. Having obtained some, he examined them more minutely when alone, and was particularly struck with their geometrical symmetry of form. He compared them with common pebbles of the same bulk, which he purposely