THIS WEEK'S BOOKS
The Travels in India of that delightful but rather inconse. quent traveller, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier has been repub- lished by the Oxford University Press. (Two volumes. 9s. net.) Dr- Ball's translation from the original French edition of 1676 has been followed, with the' addition of valuable editorial matter by Mr. William Crooke, late I.C.S. The Editor agrees with Dr. Ball'S judgment that Tavernier is much more accurate than he has often been supposed to be. From his pages we can draw a realistic picture of the -pomp and power of the Moguls. His description of the fabulous riches of the peacock throne is, of course, a classic ; we are interested to note that the largest pearl at the court of the Great Mogul was the one suspended from the ruby in the breast of the gold peacock, whose tail of blue sapphires spread across the back of the throne. A sketch of this fifty-carat pearl is given, whose match could not then be found in the world. (Had there been another, the pair would doubtless have adorned the ears of Jehangir.) The story of the Koh-i-noor is an oft-told tale which will bear repeating. Mined for Shahjehan in the middle of the seventeenth century, it passed through 'many vicissiL tudes, leaving always a trail of treason in its wake. When the Punjab was annexed in 1849, it was given to the future Lord . Lawrence, who put it in his waistcoat pocket and forgot all about it for three weeks, until asked to .give it. up for transfer to Buckingham Palace, when his servant, after the careful manner of Indian- " bearers," produced .what had seemed to him a bit of glass from among a collection of hoarded rubbish. In 1851 it was exhibited at the Crystal Palace, and is now one of the most valuable of the Crown Jewels,
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