The New York herald., 1870-10-30
History OF The Diamond Fields.


The hpdiag OF the iorty-cight carat stone near
Fauresmith Is confirmed.
History OF The Diamond Fields.
IFrom the CaIe Town Argus, August 27.l
We are abe this morning TO do what we have
long desired, namely, TO place before our readers
tull and reliable account, compiled from various
h0urces not merely ol the successes at the Diamond
FIELDS, but OF the disappointment experienced by
several While The fortunate few ina their forty
and siXty-carat dlamonds, the unfortunate many
work like slaves for weeks, ana even months, and
then, IN disgust, some retlre IRON the land Of
promised wealth poorer than when they arrived
In the great iottery there are rich prizes but there
ere also many blanks
CAPE TOWN DrGGERs LITTER
KLIPDRFT, August II, 1870.
According to promise, Will give you a fu, iruc
and nope an Interesting account OF the diamond
and having pitched our tent We set To work mime.
dsteiy, by making cradles, long toms. and other
apparatus necessary for the finding Of tile artIces
so much coveted by 'lustful man, Having each
picked ocr PICK and shovel excuse the punl and
chosen our claim. we began in real earnest used
10 say IN Cape Town, II YOU recollect that had
never in my life done nard days work. The like
can never SAY a. aim, Tor can assure you, my dear
-, anu you may Lehevc me, that no NAVY ever
worked harder Up every morning at daybreaK
and on TO my claim: work there with pick and
shovel ana crow-3ar TIL about hali-past ten then
have break ast; Alter which go down TO the river
aud wash, as we call 1t. Now VIII try to explain
the m0duS 0pera,tdi.
getting out Of mat stones have to be removed,
sometimes two hundred pounds weight. No one to
Help you, you must 90 III or ieaVeu. Nheu have
heap out OF say ten Scotch ca toads, 1t is sieved
AT hrst this was done in common round corn-seves,
but -, the Yankee, who you knew IN Cape Town,
has invented machine by which we can concen-
trate ten loads into ionr IN about two hours.
This is what is called and christened by me the
Yankee baby" The whole Is slung WIN q strap
on To frame consisting OF four upr.ghts, and bind
ers holding II together. The ground Is thrown by
one man ON 10 O sieve. The rocking Of the sleeves
causes the gravel and sand to pass through the
meshes-about one inch square and the large stones
nre throw of at the point. After passing through
a ia Uat nd nd CltI
ing board ana conducted over another sieve which
Is made OF line corn seylng. The rocking causes
all the sand to pass through a sieve. and all
tae gravel, ready for washing, Is elected without
sing large stone or particle OF sand This latter
portion Is ridden down In scotch carts to the banks
oftne vaai, where II is passed through the cradle.
DOt laugh, Old Iellow, at my description; but In
tbe nope or its being Interesting give you full par
Jculais
The ground is thrown into sieve into which
water ls either pumped or poured IN with BUCKETS.
Wnen clear enough through the water and rocking
on rockers, the top sieve Is taken out and sieve
consisting pierced IRON, zinc or tin, witn holes Is
then roughly washed (oelng the most importantly,
When washed it ~ thrown out u table to be
sorted, and al ihls three OF u.s. my brother-lnaw,
Mr.. -, aad -, sit down to work from about
twelve o'clock noon, Ill SIX O'Clock IN the evening.
Three or us, with harl Work. can turn out about
three loads OF siited stuff Ill that time; but we
quick crs, and some men, with two sortess, can
only do one load a day.
Wen, you viii naturally ask, what success have
you hadS ! have worked hard month and found
little. but not half enough to pay expenses. Every
day there are about thirty TO nifty found
some OF great value; but II all the stones
found were 10 be divided among all the diggers
equally, no one would have paid expenses. / write
this with Two cb,ects-irst, to give you the infor
nation, and, secondly, that you may spread 1t
abroad to prevent any young man from giving up
surety ior decided uncertainty. IL Is just like a
lottery; II you are lucky you draw prize; If the
opposite you lose all, we are going to leave this
week, about Wednesday, not because the life Is not
good-I never was Jolel In my lie but because we
are not paying expenses. stunning place. old
fellow; nearly all Engnshmen, ana about 1000.
billiard table making about one hundred pounds
day, and every thing equal TO Cape Town.
TUE BRIGHT SIDE OF THE PICTURE.
Having thus given the dark side OF the picture,
and merely remarkins in seltdefence that we OF
The newspapers publish what Is sent TO u.s. or what
We find i'll other paperS, we now put before our
readers something dlnefelt, and for which we are
indebted 20 the Kindness OF gentleman in this cIty
who made The extIactfrom letter received by him
from the Free state thus
FAurEsMrrH August 10, 1870
IT VIII not be necessary Tor me 10 90 10 the diamond cds
as have Just heard OF diamond mine (Which fact
The adoins iarn to mine called Jaersoateln) and ia.
soil wheiherl hnd such pace on my own
rnonl on TUESDAY for Which be rs used E5 Il Is srsnae
but nevei leess ue that daily diamonds being picked
up ali over the Tree state.
several other letters have been received In town
from tue dggings and their contents, SO far they
are oil pubic interest, communicated To us for
which We have TO thank those who brought or sent
tnem To our oiilce. One OF the letters alluded to
is IRON the young man Heintes to his mother. 1t
VIII DC remembered that In previous issue we
announced that he had found diamonds which
he sold Tor $500 since then, he now writes TO
bay, Ne las IUunu several small stones,
these ne has sod FOR 9z2o. His brother has
also been successful, but TO what extent Is not
mentioned. We learn asO from his letter that three
or four parties who had been digging for several
months had lett the fields In despair, not having
made even their working expenses. Mr.. Paul lie
Vlliers writes 10 some relatives IN town to say that
he has been working Tor SIX weeks and has found
seven diamonds, but their value he does not state.
MIR. Jessup mas received letter from his son. who
says that the first day he went to work he found
diamond, and that the day afterwards Mr.. Mcdonald
who works with him, found another. In the same
letter reference Is made 10 several small diamonds
found by Mr.. Ricketts,, and the price gwen for the
large one discovered some time ago Is said TO have
been G2, 700 Several parties who met with little. II
any success, have returned to villages the bor-
der, and hope to make more by attending 10 the
wants OF travellers than they could by searching for
diamonds. From some letters have we
learn that among the arrivals at the fields were .
number OF females whose character is questionable.
DIFFICULTIES ON THE ROAD.
Some OF the letters received In town from places
on the road to the fields describe the sad mlshaps
which have befailen inexperienced travellers to the
digglngs. Dying cattle, broken wheels and other
nlsortune5 try the Dper and test the resources OF
the neophytes The town bred clerk or shopkeeper
appreciates FOR the first time the enjoyment OF look
Ing Tor MS animals IN the held. Nevertheless, here
as in Australia and california, the "mohers dar.
hngs" snow their pluck and MANHOOD by cheerfolly
submitting To such dimculties as they cannot over
come. From ali we cln learn the youth OF THIS
country, whether at the fields or on the road bear
themselves brayely through their hardslips show
Ing that when tried the Afrcander Is not found
wanting.
WORTHY or MS LUCK
Dean Merriman, IN the course OF his sermon In St
Georges, Cape Town, on Sunday morning, inclden-
tally, and by way OF Illustrating the SUBJECT In hand
made reference TO the diamond fields, and mentioned
the following interesting iact:-Ihe first eminently
who possessed the gem which has made South Africa
famous, and who obtained for 1t ft0m the Messrs