The Democratic advocate., 1878-09-21
Cur 0liu.
The Diamond Region of South Africa.

The Diamond Region of South Africa.
The hotels of Kimberley are provided
with large "bar" at which liquors are
sold, billiard-room and long dining-hall,
and ranging down on either side of the
dining-room a series of little bedrooms
narrow, cofin-shaped chambers, containing
bed, chair, wash-stand and trunk.
At the hotel, and at the better class of
canteens, are met the floating population
and the men of leisure about town, the
latter apparently permanent fixtures of
the place. Business, 1. e., drinking, be-
gins early and continues until it is early
again.
Certainly Kimberley is the heaven of
the gentlemanly loafer, who, on one excuse
or another, does no work, and trusts to his
bright particular star for bread, cheese,
meat and drinks. Never downcast, never
respondent, always plausible, he seems to
have horror of becoming a millionaire;
he would have it understood that he is
about to embark in some grand project
perhaps to turn the Vaal River aside and
search its bed for diamonds, or lead water
through pipes into Kimberley from the
same river thirty miles distant, or pump
the mine dry, or open a coal or lead mine,
or 60 into ostrich farming, or up-country
trading. In the meantime wont you back
his bill ''for a small $780," Or our morn
ing friend sis only waiting for the mail"
and "expects a remittance from home di-
rectly." Strange how long that remittance
is in coming "Confounded bad postal
arrangements in these wilds, you know"
He is "gOing in for washing" and wants
to "make a new START" he is "going to
pull up" and Ego in for making money
now" A 'fver" would oblige him.
About the hotel he makes trade good;
treats his creditors with kindness and with
drinks; says "Put it down to me-" as if
'No credit" over the bar was never written
for him. Scans his bill in contemptuous
way through his eyeglass, and finally, when
the last card is played, saunters off to
pastures new, leaving a widowed constit-
uency with depleted pockets to mourn his
departure.
But outnumbering manifold these orna-
ments to society arc the diggers in ''mole-
skin" trowsers, flannel shirt and broad hat
twined round with puggeree. By "dig-
ger" must be understood claim holder, and
director of his own or anothers mining
operations. He seldom touches pick or
shovel, far better to use his eyes and pre-
vent the negroes working under him from
stealing. lie has just come up out of the
mine and down into the street a moment
for a new rope, pick or bucket, and stops
for chat. Diamonds, claims, finds, are
the all-absOrbing topic. Having ordered
with some "mate" "split, the first in-
quiry is, "Any finds to-day ?" or ''Is the
mail in p and care diamonds up or DOWN."
The state of the ''reef" is discussed, and
the progress of pumping operations. Here,
perhaps, some one asks =" Have you heard
Of Browns luck? lie bought a claim
yesterday in which they hadn't paid ex-
penses for three months and found dia-
mond worth $4,000 this morning before
breakfast" Very likely Brown enters at
this moment, and straightway "wets his
find" to the extent of standing treat all
around to champagne. Happy man if
this were all he spent, but "easy come,
easy 60" applies to his money as well as
to that of other gamblers. In such an as
sembly one hears discussed many turns in
the wheel of fortune
Perhaps what strikes one at first the
most oddly, is the careless manner in which
diamonds are handed about and displayed.
Drawing forth from his pocket little
metal or wooden matchbox, the digger
opens it to show his "fnds." 1t is full of
diamonds of all skies and qualities, Just as
they have come from the ground, lustrous
and glowing with their soft white or yell
low lights. The box is passed around the
crowd quite out of sight of its owner, diff
ferent gems are taken out of it and ad-
mired, and it is finally returned quite as
it left him. Another draws from his
trowsers' pocket handful of good-sized
'stones, and lays them down upon the
table. One by one they are taken up and
distributed about the crowd present for
inspection, the owner quietly awaiting
their return from the different quarters of
the room, quite undisturbed as to the
safety of his property; they all come back.
Slipping his thumb and finger into a side
vest pocket, fresh conner pulls out per-
feet beauty hundred-carat yellow, as
large as a marble, far brighter and more
lustrous than any cut glass or crystal; alas,
worth now at the deprecated price of
'of-eolor," not more than s. 900 lin the
days before "off-color" were plentifully
found, worth $4,000. This too is passed
freely about. There is no danger of the