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Decorations: Algiers

Mr. St. John, consul to the last Dey of Algiers, describes a visit he paid to the treasury of this potentate, just before the taking of Algiers by the French, in 1830. The chamber was paved with stone, for no wooden floor could have borne the weight of the treasure. Golden coins--literally in millions--were lying heaped up like corn in a granary; and several feet high in the walls, the plaster which had been wet when they had been shovelled in, retained, when dry, the impression of the coins. In this hall of Plutus were contained not only some hundred thousands in gold and jewels, which the Dey took with him, but between two or three millions, which the French owned to receiving.

Among modern orientals, none had a greater love of jewels, and exhibited them more ostentatiously, than the famous Runjeet Singh. The "Lion of Lahore" is represented by the Hon. William Osborne, sitting cross-legged on a golden chair, dressed in simple white, which showed off to the best advantage a string of enormous pearls, of wonderful richness and beauty, round the waist, and the celebrated Koh-i-noor on his arm. Rajah Soojet, one of his followers, wore a suit of the richest armour, a chelenk of rubies and diamonds on his forehead. His back, breastplate, and gauntlets of steel, were richly embossed with gold and precious stones; magnificent armlets of rubies and diamonds were on each arm, and his sabre and matchlock were highly jewelled. The Hindoos, Bengalese, and Santhals, are immensely fond of jewellery. An English officer once weighed the ornaments worn by a Santhal belle: she had thirty-four pounds of bracelets, anklets, bangles, rings, and chains, about her person.