And men clepe
them diamonds in that country, and HAMESE in another country.
Other diamonds men find in Arabia that be not so good, and they be
more brown and more tender. And other diamonds also men find in
the isle of Cyprus, that be yet more tender, and them men may well
polish. And in the land of Macedonia men find diamonds also. But
the best and the most precious be in Ind.
And men find many times hard diamonds in a mass that cometh out of
gold, when men pure it and refine it out of the mine; when men
break that mass in small pieces, and sometime it happens that men
find some as great as a peas and some less, and they be as hard as
those of Ind.
And albeit that men find good diamonds in Ind, yet nevertheless men
find them more commonly upon the rocks in the sea and upon hills
where the mine of gold is. And they grow many together, one
little, another great. And there be some of the greatness of a
bean and some as great as an hazel nut. And they be square and
pointed of their own kind, both above and beneath, without working
of man's hand. And they grow together, male and female. And they
be nourished with the dew of heaven.
