Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-02-06
woRCESTER .
MONDAY, FEnRUARY o, 1s7l



If the latest reports from the South African
diamond fields can be trusted, diamonds cannot
long maintain their relative value The demand
for them may have been steadily increasing, but
it can hardly keep pace with the supply. A
letter to the London Times, from a dignitary
of the colonial church, DR.. Williams, dean of
Grahamstown, was one of the earliest sources OF
information in regard to these mines, and bis
story was so highly colored as to suggest to
cautious people that he had been seized by the
enthusiasm that commonly attenGs such dis
coveries, and was not at the time of writing in q
mental condition to entitle his narrative to full
credit in all its details. Some of the later In
tclligence confirmed these doubts. Persons con-
versant with gems, it was said, pronounced the
stones, that had been estimates to b. worth ever
SO many thousand pounds, very inferior in
lustre and purity, and it was even reported that
ajeweler in London, after an examination Of
some African diamonds, declared that they were
not diamonds az all, but crystals of some other
mineral of insignificant value. Other writers
reported that the number and size of the gems
found had been greatly exaggerated and that
comparatively few of the diggers got adequate
compensation for their labor.
DR.. Williams perhaps has not heard these de-
predatory reports If he has he evidently does
not believe them. He has written another letter
to the Times, in which he asserts that eve.y
statement and prediction in his original letter
has been more than verified The diamond
fields have been extended by recent discoveries
both in depth and service area The precious
stones are found not on the service only, but at
as great depth as thirty feet, and the explorers
no longer con6ne themselves to the immediate
neighborhood of the rivers, but have prospected
with success even as far away as twenty-five
miles north of the Orange river, finding dia-
monds in profusion. Rubies and garnets, as
well as diamonds, are among the products of
this favored region, which, if the deans enthusi-
astc account is to be fully credited, must include
within its limits the famous diamond valley Of
Slnbad. He represents the people now seeking
their fortunes in this region as notably different
in their character and success from any other
swarm of Adventures whom similar mining
excitement ever brought together Their num-
Der is already very great. city of tents with
nearly twenty thousand inhabitants has sprung
mp on the Vaal river, and the whole number of
diggers and those who are in one way and an
other drawn to the spot by the hope of finding
diamonds, or living upon the good luck of those
who do find them, is very much greater yet.
DIR. Williams says that he has never known
sober man, having health, who was dissatisfied
with the life or the returns of his labor. Prices
are but little higher than in England, and
among all the thousands of restless spirits who
have copyrighted there from all parts of the
world, there are few or no reports of crime.
In these respects the diamond fields seem to
present a remarkable contrast to the early
phases of the gold excltements in California and
Australia, where many patient, hard-working
men were unsuccessful, where the necessaries
Of life cost fabulous prizes, and robbery and
murder, to say nothing of lesser crimes, were
VIGOROUSLY frequent 1t is extremely hard to
believe that in that remote region, some hun
dreds OF miles from any adequate market, and
beyond the admitted jurisdiction of any organ
lied government, thirty or forty thousand adj
Venturers from all countries, excited by the hope
of sudden fortunes, can be collected, and, while
all who will work prosper reasonably, and many
have wonderful good fortune, thieves and
ruf1ans are absent or forget their predatory in
stincts, and all the necessary supplies for the
rapidly growing population flow in upon them
in abundance, and are sold at a trihng advance
from the prices of old countries, with all the fa
ciliues Of transportation, and a course of trade
settled by the experience of generations, Some
other wonderful things are old in DIR. Williams
letter, bat these are enough to tax severely the
credulity of the most accommodating reader.