Peter Kalm: Conversation with Franklin (VII)
Reprinted from Adolph B. Benson, ed., Peter Kalm’s Travels in North America. The English Version of 1770 (2 vols., N.Y., 1937), p. 204

Mr. Franklin and several other gentlemen frequently told me that an Indian, who owned Rhode Island, had sold it to the English for a pair of spectacles. It is large enough for a principality, and has a separate government at present. This Indian knew how to set a true value upon a pair of glasses, for if they were scarce, they would undoubtedly on account of their great usefulness have the same value as diamonds.

[December 6, 1748]
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