Home › The Braganza › The Braganza: Mawe

The Braganza: Mawe

This passage presents considerable difficulty, for Mawe nowhere says he had ever even seen, much less examined, the stone; nor is it easy to understand how he could have had the opportunity of doing so. Indeed his description of it as a "white topaz" would seem to imply that he never set eyes on this gem, at least if Barbot is correct in describing it as "d'une couleur jaune fonce." This is very far from being the only discrepancy in the current accounts of the Braganza. Barbot himself tells us that it was found, not by three banished criminals, but by a slave, who, therefore, received his liberty, and, "une pension viagere pour lui et la famille." He adds that it is the shape of a pea, and, "might be about the size of a hen's egg;" while Liebig reduces its weight to 95 carats. Authorities are equally at variance as to the date of its discovery, which Kluge says was in 1741, Murray about 1764, and others, with Mawe, more correctly, about 1797. In the same way, the locality where it was found is stated by Mawe to have been the bed of the river Abaite, when it had run partly dry; whereas Jones, says that it was extracted from the mine of Caetha Mirim in 1741. Lastly Jones himself splits this very stone into two, one of which he calls the "Braganza," the other the "Abaite," and finds a history for each. Of the former he says that it was extracted from the mine of Caetha Mirim in 1741, and that it was worn by Don Joao VI., who had a passion for precious stones, of which he owned about L 3,000,000 worth. Of the latter he writes that it "was found in 1791, and the circumstances of its discovery was related by Mawe and others. Three men, convicted of capital offences, Antonio de Sousa, Jose Feliz Gomez, and Thomas de Sousa, were exiled to the far west of Minas, and forbidden, under pain of death, to enter a city, wandered about for some six years, braving cannibals and wild beasts, in search of treasure. Whilst washing for gold in the Abaite river, which was then exceptionally dry, they discovered this diamond weighing nearly an ounce (576 grains=144 carats). They trusted to a priest who, despite the severe laws against diamond washers, led them to Villa Rica, and submitted the stone to the governor of Minas, whose doubts were dissipated by a special commission. The priest obtained several privileges, and the malefactors their pardon, no other reward being mentioned."

It will be noticed at once that this story relates not, as here stated, to a diamond weighing 144 carats, but to the stone Jones has already spoken of under the name of Braganza, weighing 1,680 carats. It is obvious that two stories, relating to two distinct gems have got mixed up together by careless writers, copying from each other, each repeating or adding to the errors made by his predecessors, and all carefully avoiding the trouble involved in the consultation of the original authorities. The subjoined passage from Milliet de Saint Adolphe makes it perfectly clear that the Braganza and the Abaite are one and the same stone, and identical with what the writer calls the "Regent," because brought to Lisbon during the regency of John VI. This circumstance also fixes the date of its discovery at about the year 1798; for John was appointed Regent in 1799, when his mother Maria I. lost her reason. Speaking of the river Abaite, which rises in the Mata da Corda mountains, and flows through the province of Minas-Geraes, for 40 leagues north-east to the left bank of the Sao-Francisco, 12 leagues below the mouth of the Andaia, the writer observes: "It was in this river that was found by three convicts, condemned to perpetual exile, the diamond of the Portuguese crown called the 'Regent.' The parish priest of the place to whom the criminals showed it, took it in person to the Governor of Minas-Geraes in 1800, and interceded for those unhappy persons. The governor sent the diamond to Lisbon, and the Prince Regent, afterwards Don Joao VI., pardoned the condemned criminals." The circumstances here briefly recapitulated show conclusively that the writer is speaking of the same diamond that Mawe describes as weighing 1,680 carats. Consequently to this and to no other belongs the story of the three convicts. It also appears from this statement that the "Braganza" and "Regent of Portugal," usually regarded as two distinct gems, are really one and the same stone. Else we shall have to believe that two exceptionally large stones were found in Brazil under exactly similar circumstances, that is by three criminals, banished to perpetual exile, and who thereupon received their pardon.