Other rajahs are famous for diamonds, or emeralds, or other jewels.  There seems to be a good deal of rivalry among them as to which shall make the greatest display.  But from what people tell me I should say that the Nizam of Haidarabad could furnish the largest stock if these estimable gentlemen were ever compelled to go into the jewelry business.  We were particularly interested in him because he outranks all the other native princes, and is the most important as well as the most gorgeous in the array.  His dominions, which he has inherited from a long line of ancestors—­I believe he traces his ancestry back to the gods—­include the ancient City of Golconda, whose name for centuries was a synonym for riches and splendors.  In ancient times it was the greatest diamond market in the world.  It was the capital of the large and powerful kingdom of the Deccan, and embraced all of southern India, but is now in ruins.  Its grandeur began to decay when the kingdom was conquered by the Moguls in 1587 and annexed to their empire, and to-day the crumbling walls and abandoned palaces are almost entirely deserted.  Even the tombs of the ancient kings, a row of vast and splendid mausoleums, which cost millions upon millions of dollars, and for architecture and decoration and costliness have been surpassed only by those of the Moguls, are being allowed to decay while the ruling descendant of the men who sleep there spends his income for diamonds.

The magnificence and extravagance of these princes are the theme of poems and legends.  There is a large book in Persian filled with elaborate and graphic descriptions of the functions and ceremonies that attend the reception of an envoy from Shah Abbas, King of Persia, who visited the court of Golconda in 1503.  Among other gifts brought by him from his royal master was a crown of rubies which still remains in the family, although many people think the original stones have been removed and imitations substituted in order that the nizam may enjoy the glory of wearing them.  When his ambassador went back to Persia he was accompanied by a large military escort guarding a caravan of 2,400 camels laden with gifts from the nizam to his royal master.

The present capital of the province, the city of Haidarabad, was founded in 1589 by a gentleman named Kutab Shah Mohammed Kuli, who afterward removed his household there on account of a lack of water and a malarial atmosphere at Golconda.  He called the city in honor of his favorite concubine.  The name means “the city of Haidar.”  The province includes about 80,000 square miles of territory, and has a population of 11,141,946 of whom only 10 per cent are Moslems, although the ruling family have always professed that faith.

The present nizam is Mahbub Ali, who was born in 1866, was partially educated in England and is very popular with all classes of people—­particularly with those who profit by his extravagance.  The revenues of the state are about $20,000,000 a year, and the people are very much overtaxed.  The nizam’s taste for splendor and his desire to outdo all the other native princes in display have caused the government of India considerable anxiety, and the British resident at his capital, whose duty is to keep him straight, enjoys no sinecure.