Introduction

130
Sabina Fazli
stone 40) by Betteredge, Collins puns on the title used with the East India Company
combining it with its slang designation as “John Company” (GoGwilt 65).
The allegorical light of progress and the pun on his name suggest that not the
individual crime is at stake but its enmeshing in the wider context of British expansionism.
The Moonstone remains a trophy in the hands of Herncastle as its
passage again marks the transition of power from the Indian ruler to the European
power.
The provenance of the Rajah’s Diamond is only revealed in the last story entitled
“The Adventure of Prince Florizel and a Detective”. An allusion to Thomas
Vandeleur’s crime relating to the diamond appears early on in the story in a rather
sketchy version: “For some reason, some service the nature of which had been
often whispered and repeatedly denied, the Rajah of Kashgar 9 had presented this
officer with the sixth known diamond of the world.” (Stevenson, “Rajah’s” 71)
Only in the end can Prince Florizel give a coherent account. He narrates the
whole story of the diamond and also names the “service which had been often
whispered” (Stevenson, “Rajah’s” 71):
‘An officer,’ began Prince Florizel, ‘a man of courage and conduct, who had
already risen by merit to an eminent rank, and won not only admiration but
respect, visited in an unfortunate hour for his peace of mind, the collections
of an Indian Prince. Here he beheld a diamond so extraordinary for
size and beauty that from that instant he had only one desire in life: honour,
reputation, friendship, the love of country, he was ready to sacrifice all for
this lump of sparkling crystal. For three years he served this semi-barbarian
potentate as Jacob served Laban; he falsified frontiers, he connived at murders,
he unjustly condemned and executed a brother-officer who had the
misfortune to displease the Rajah by some honest freedoms; lastly, at a time
of great danger to his native land, he betrayed a body of his fellow-soldiers,
and suffered them to be defeated and massacred by thousands. In the end,
he had amassed a magnificent fortune, and brought home with him the
coveted diamond.’ (130)
The “time of great danger” may be identified with the Mutiny which would set
Stevenson’s text even more firmly in the same line of tradition as The Moonstone.
The motif of labouring for the diamond, as it is suggested by the reference to the
biblical story of Jacob and Laban, also appears in The Sign of Four. Thomas Van-
9 Kashgar is now part of the Sinkiang Uigur Autonomous Region of China. From 1755 to 1862
the Muslim population was under Chinese rule. From 1862 until 1875 a rebellion established a
Muslim as king of Kashgar (Anon., “Kashgar”). I do not know I do not know? Assess wird in
solchen Kontexten eigentlich gar nicht gebraucht. if this actually is the reason for wie wärs denn
mal mit “is the reason for”? you inform very often! the choice in Stevenson’s text, but ‘rajah’ is
not a title used by Muslim rulers. I would rather think that the Rajah of Kashgar is just a standin
for some-exotic sounding Indian prince and place. The link with the Mutiny which the text
suggests rules out any actual significance of the historical Kashgar apart from the name.