A Bucketful of Diamonds

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIII, Issue VII, 13 August 1904, Page 59

A Bucketful of Diamonds

An extraordinary story is told in the Cape papers as a sequel to the sentence of death passed upon the man Swartz, who, while on a search for buried diamonds, murdered his companion.

It is said that Cecil Rhodes, while travelling near the possessions of the then great Kaffir chief, Magato, in 1890 was invited to pay the native fortress a visit.’

Magato asked Cecil Rhodes if he had ever seen a bucketful of diamonds, and received a negative reply. The Kaffir chief said something to the induna, and two natives brought out a bucket filled to the brim with precious stones, of the finest colour and of perfect lustre. Mr Rhodes, finding them to be valuable diamonds, asked Magato how he had got them. The reply was that they had come at different times as presents from his native subjects who worked in the De Beers Mines. Mr Rhodes estimated the value of the stones at from two and a half to four and a half millions sterling. Several syndicates tried to persuade Magato to sell the diamonds, but he always refused.

Magato, before his death, divided the stones up into parcels, and distributed them amongst his indunas. It is supposed that some of the diamonds were afterwards buried, and it was to search for one of these parcels of hidden treasure that Swartz formed the fatal expedition.