SOUTH AFRICA'S DIAMOND MINES.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2642, 14 January 1908, Page 7

SOUTH AFRICA'S DIAMOND MINES.

The story of the Kimberley diamond mines began two generations ago. when two bands of Boer immigrants fled out of Cape Colony to escape Rritish rule. Ore of them, says a writer in "The World To-day." settled on a patch of colli forty miles in extent, which has !-ince become the famous Hand, and yields a hundred million dollars even - year in the precious uietal.

On the other hand. Burgher .Jacobs ofl-soddled on a hundred acres of diamonds. and his little claim to-day contains an absolute monoply in these gems. His children used to play in the sand with bright pebbles for iiMrbles. Neighbour Schalk Van Neikirk saw one of the stones, took it from the little ones with the remark that it might be valuable, and the following year it was on show at the Universal Expedition of Paris as a magnificent diamond of 21 carats.

Two years later old Van Neikirk himself picked out of the mud plaster of neighbour Du Toit's hut the famous Star of Africa, which sold for 56,000 dollars. That was the beginning of the diamond mines which t(Hliv employ 10.000 Kaffirs and 4.000 Europeans. The pits run in tubes or funnels many acres in extent, evidently forced up ages ago by volcanic action. At first a yellow ground was found, and men left the blue below this severely alone. But the era of open workings soon came to an end, although thousands of independent diggers made fortunes in a few months. To-day you will find depths of 3.000 feet in the diamond mines, and the bottom of the blue funnel has not yet been reached. Both blue and yellow earths, studded with diamonds iike a geological pudding, are supposed to be volcanic mud. Holes for blasting are drilled, and after the blasts are touched ofl the crushed blue ground is conveyed to the mine shaft, 1,500 feet from the tunnels. Here the ore is dumped into buckets on wheels and drawn out of the mines by powerful engines. You will see thousands of men, mostly negroes, earning 1.25 dollar a day, perched upon the blue ground rock in the tunnels, patiently driving with hammer and chisel Great stretches of ground known

as the floors arc marked off like tennis courts to receive the precious ore; for air. rain, and sun will do the work of disintegration as no costly machinery could do it. One mine - alone has five miles of dumping floors I'pon their smooth surface is spread the blue clay to the depth of a foot, and after several months it crumbles •nd releases the indestructible crystals within, such as diamonds, garnets, olivines, and other stones of lesser value, usually associated with the most precious of all gems. The disintegration progress is helf>ed by harrowing with steam ploughs: and all such ground as remains obdurate goes into the crushing machine. The washing gear is a marvel of ingenuity ; and as the dirt and gravel pass down its plane the diamonds are arrested hy a tallowy coating. This fat is then scraped off and melted in a cauldron, in whose bottom the diamonds are found like precious grounds in a gigantic coffee cup. They are taken from here to the general offices of the monopoly, and sorted according to vnlue and size. Stones worth 200.000 dollars have he«»n washed in a single day. But even the waste earth is not yet done with. This is specially treated lest tallow and machinery alike should have overlooked anything of value. That the precaution is worth while is seen from the fart that diamonds worth 1,400,000 dollars were recovered from these tailings last year. A London syndicate contracts to take the entire output of th" mines ; and all cutting is done in the Continent of Eurofie, chiefly in Amsterdam and Antwerp. The stones vary enormously in quality, and fetch io the rough from dollar to 200 dollars a carat. There is very little leakage, considering the stupendous scale on which the diamond mining is done. One year, however, a negro sorter was found to have swallowed 3,700 dollars in stones, but a colleague broke this record by swallowing 348 carats of diamonds, worth £">,300. The Kaffirs are constantly devising new modes of smuggling. They will load their.pipe bowl with small diamonds under a layer of tobacco, and vigorously pull smoke to divert suspicion. I.caves of books have so cut that no on,? would think diamonds were concealed between them. Other smugglers have gone so far as to inflict serious cuts up<vi themselves and stuff valuable stones into these wounds.