The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1886-04-27 00:00:00

THE CAPE DIAMOND FIELDS.

The extension of ail., railway from Cape Town to
Kimberley ha. in el.• a visit to ill . ram ~ii diamond
fields as.. easy tit it it may iss lin-lertak.•n without. fear
lo' even th.• neot delieate and tedidesis .4 travellers.
Twenty days in 3 feat, we'd oplimistol moil steamer
land you in Cue Town. and the journey to Kimberley
oxlip... only 31 heirs in trains supplied with travel.
ling kitchena, sleeping compartments, dr...ing.roons,
and every powilde emiveitiens.. The diamond fields
moonrise the foor famous mines, and the township.
clu.tered none! tloon. The mines were discovered in
DITI hy di:M.1,144 being !mind in the surface 'mil, and
were .in three adjoining farms celled Voornitsint,
Bultforitein, an I Ihirstfontein, the property of Boers.
The (anus P.0.1h ch owed hand.. and Vm.rnitsiqt is
now the property of the ()Monisi ilovernment, who
Isemlit it for ClOO,OOO in Pin, while I)orstfontein and
nultbintein belong to an Exploration Oonyany
established in leindon. Thp soil in which the
dieu.onds are found in these mine" is called in miner's
phrase "Mite," from its colour. and I have never
heard that ir...lorista ..r ' seralogists have attempted
to give it a scientific none. This lane apieisrs to be '
a tonh dry 1 .4 volcanic origin ponetimes
hardened into absolute rock. It is liblstril by ,
dynamite owl .Irawn bi th- surface I.y aerial tram-
ways, and then carried to the depoiting tbors ; bir
so tsmaciists is the " bine" tii.it it rennin.a to is•
weather...l for from three to 12 months before it will
give iii. its treasure, and finally washed and sorted- I
i 3 acomiony Ism. iit through the whole process. The !
courtesy of the manager of a minify emelt/4170w"
everything at the dispeel of the visitors, met after
inspecting the engine•holow, and tly. lowerfill Robey
hauling minines, you take ymir seat in an iron truck,
which travois on smell wheels al tog the aerial
tramways. An electric bell ...mitts in the engine-
!list.% and you begin to descend, not without at,
uneasy gl most into the obyss beneath, and some envy
id the morir• .4 your guide, a inert yming Englishman,
who •its .in the frame of the truck, with his
legs dengling in space, and avails himself .4 the
momentary rest to fill and light Ma pipe. The heavy
steel ropes oh which your carriage travels are firmly
anchored at the fl so. .4 the MOW, and you arrive in .
safety at the bottom. Nil selOGef hare you quitted '
your conveyance than another truck, filled with blue,
run, lip on rails and in tipped into k when it again
ascend.; siel .... the work go. .46. The mene at the
bettimi of tle: mine ia reniarkable. Ecettered over
the irregular surface are, perhaps, two thmisand
Kaffira, wellonede moll, stark naked, and black as
...betty. The. men drill the bleating holes under the
orders of white miners, work out the Imrened ground
with lock and shovel, lied and tip the Pucka, take tip
and relay the tramways an the level alter, and do all
the hard work under the orders of white overseer., whit
are directed by the claim rummer. Ti • stranger
the scene in weitil 4nd uncanny. The noise of the
pumping engines, tlin resounding Nowa of the heavy
hammers on the steel drills, the jarring noble of the
iron trucks and their tipping, and the wild appearance
and imeiwthly Amite of the perspiring Kaffir', all
combine to mike one oast a longing glance upward.,
and hail with inward joy the sound of the hell above
which proclaims that the day's work is done. The
ascending trucks now carry up the white overseers
and °facials, while the Kaffirs swarm like black mita
up primipitous paths and hanging ladders, and in •
few tau mites the mine is silent and apparently deserted
Thee this hell ring" again, giving the si to fi th re e
blasts, and solitary figures, white and k, are OM
rushing about with tiny sparks, and then making fir
the appointed shelter places. A few minutes more,
and the gamma& berme The explosions shake the '
solid ground on which yen atartd. The blue flies into
the air Of falls in masses, lamps slices of dangerous
"reef' or wall come down with thundering noise !
Then once more all is still. The smoke clears awe}, I
the dust nettles and agai*.w. bell rinaa, and IFin
" night shift " offenere and gu awarming deft
to their work- limn* place at ma and
and twelve o'clock, and the roar rain the four minas
at Mideiltilt can he heard for many manna around. I
Belies leaving the mines • word shanld be said about '
the terrible danger of the work. On an average 30 j
men we killed every month, chiefly by sudden falls of I
treacherous blue or cruinlsling shale. Only a week or j
tem ago a mar of at lewit 300.000 Mal fell suddenly j
from the north wall of the Dutoitapart Mine, !
Fortunately, it visa during the dinner hour, whun Wit !
few then were in the mine, but twelve Rafts. nera I
instantly buried alive and a still mora'
.Epirrible
fate befel eight Europeans who were. talon& *ME
midday in.al in an ensile 'l which was UMW,
wh-lined by tlia la** v.or4 so theA the Pew
fellows, when ttMr Wilma ware t, out, were found
to bevel:nut scaMed by the escaping steam, while the
ib,
Pant the building, though iirwhiaddown upon them,
hail prolonged their agonies by preventing the
ociniftt of the earth.—Oape fhtf• Ourreepundeal.

BRITISH 00AL IN GERMAN Y.
The (lunation nf the importation into Germany.
British coal and the means to he adopted fur totkipang
It orwumption in favour 0/.o3ornlon ura4 hosfor swag
time been excitiog attegtio44
important meeting 41. thie act wee 1;e11 at
amoborg, IMAMS Milani
commit*, nonsked, ute cost *striate woh &hooky,
repreeektogivie of the various oolliatters Homburg
shilsonters, importers and maectianto, aa well ea
members of the &twitters of CO/14INVEle of Hamburg,
nmsniett, suld ass North:german Lloyd's, The past
Mt (flowed nn Inowim in the cottensuptinet of British
over german noel, atyl tl, onufereeten IVY nortveited
withe view to discwwing the lqreaa lobe tionisl..yed to
Prolnote 111., 11terld001 11.0 the !utter. It lieu been
ot.s.^l II /41g . Icicilt it thf. ainfnrence a reductioa
In Or inNialit for oisl !mu Westphalian coal Metric's
to fitinbutg end Bennotn ia to be noun ietl out in the
proportion of three merlin trir 10,000 kilogramme+ for
Brmnerhaven and five for Hamburg. *1 he reduction,
however, of dee marks in favour of Hamburg is held
1.. be inalithcient, regsrd I.ein hart to dietetton, lq
comparison with three markn in tavirp jlarearr•
haven.

Intellkhatioe From Withal .itatim that banditn had
nttexlted the Dolmas Mining Damp. but were repuland,
losing fire killed and many wounded.
A violent oxplosion occurred at oun a.m. on Friday
In the Church of tnn Lula, in Madrid city. Kane
SWIM unknown put MI ex phiei vo .1111141111(4 In one o/
the candles hotore the almr. Tha church 11414 01.rsitek
at the tulle, but two who 44410,4 104 he
Mode, were severely burns in lb. facp,and on the arm.
&MOW, of the A Lwrhhap. inaet trakin, renahad
London on Li*, Ith*C. nuelpars follow in lb.
Aostral, Tb. reamincler aril towing in Italy.
wl In. klly a week Won the whole team anire
Inglead.

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Ofßem, High via,„5.,44.4, porehoeter, n tb4
..I Holy 'trinity, 1.4. the Proprietor.
AU ebonite% Puis-0111er order* art Yobli
MI% 146 AT ZWes•-etrest,
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