Volume 2

The Hindoos / [Anon.].

  • St. John, James Augustus, 1795-1875.
Date:
1834-35
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Hindoos / [Anon.]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    43/428 (page 29)
    under the proper planetary influences, was of old buried in the earth with hidden treasure, which it was supposed to put in perfect safety, by rendering it invisible to every eye but that of its owner. The practice of burying treasure iu the East, originated in the political circumstances of those countries, where, owing to the badness of the government, the tenure of property was commonly found to be insecure. For this reason it has long been customary for a rich man to divide his estate into three portions: one he employs in trade, or in p\irchasing the necessaries of life ; another he invests iu jewels, which he may easily carry off, if forced to fly; the third he buries. No person being intrusted with the secret of this dej)osit, which is guarded by some talisman, or ring of power, the treasure, should the owner die before he returns to the spot, is lost to the world, till fortune or accident throws it in the way perhaps of some fortunate peasant, when turning up his ground. Those discoveries of hidden treasure, and sudden transitions from poverty to riches, of which we read iu oriental tales, are there- fore by no means quite ideal, says Richardson, but a natural consequence of the manners of the people. The talismaiiic gems appear to have been some- times engraved, though generally, perhaps, they were set plain iu gold. A traveller, who possessed one of these gems set in a ring, observes that it was a convex oval emerald, rough as when taken from the mine. It had previously belonged to a friend, who, having passed tlie greater part of his life in the East, in constant intercourse with the Hindoos, had been infected by their superstitions, and contracted a belief in lucky and unlucky days, omens, spells, and talis- mans. Nevertheless this gentleman had contrived, with all this weight of superstition about him, to rise high in the Company’s service; to become, in fact, an c 3