Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1878-08-09
How Diamonds Were Discovered in South
Africa,

The modern discovery of diamonds
came about in this wise. In 1867 GER
tain John O'Reilly, trader and hunter,
on his way from the interior, reached
the junction of the rivers and stopped
for the night at the farm of a Dutch
farmer named Van Niekerk. The chill
dren were playing on the earth floor
with some pretty pebbles they had
found long before in the river. One of
these pebbles attracted O'Reilly's at
tention. He said, picking it up, THAT
might be a diamond" Niekerk laughed
and said he could have it; it was no dia-
mond; if it was, there were plenty
around there. However O'Reilly was
not TO be laughed out of his idea, and
said that if Niekerk didn't object he
would take it down with him to Cape
Town and see what it was and if it
proved to be of value he would give
him half the proceeds. On. the way
down, long journey, he stopped at
Colesburg, at the hotel, and showed the
pebble, scratching with it pane of
glass. His friends laughingly scratched
glass with a gun-ilint and threw the
pebble out of the window, telling
O'Reilly not to make fool of himself.
However, O'Reilly persevered, got it to
DR.. AtherstOne, near the coast, who an
nounced that it was in truth diamond
of 22l carats. 1t was sold for $4,000.
l am glad to say that O'Reilly divided
fairly with Niekerk. The latter re-
membered that he had seen an immense
stone in the hands of n Kaflir witch
doctor who used it in his incantations.
He found the fetish-man, gave him 500
sheep, horses, and nearly all he pos
sessed, and sold it the same day to an
experienced diamond-buyerfo for $50, 900.
This was the famous "Star of South
Africa" 1t weighed S3I carats in the
rough and was found to be gem quite
the rival of any Indian stone in purity
and brilliance. After it had been cut
it was bought by the Earl of Dudley
and it is now known as the Dudley
diamond. The natives crawled over
! the ground and found many more, and
the excitement grew and became in
tense. By 1869 parties in ox-wagons
had worked their way over the weary
plains to the Vaal River From all
parts of the colony and from foreign
lands, people swarmed, and soon, like
the creation of a dream, tented city of
$4,000 and more grew at Pniel and
Klipdrift, the opposite banks of the
stream where diamonds were found
plentifully and of excellent quality by
sorting over the bowlder-drift. Soon
| hundreds of cradles, like those used by
the Australian gold-diggers, were rock
ing on the edge of the stream, supplied
with the precious gravel by a large
force of diggers, sieyers, and carriers.
People were thunderstruck at their sue
cess. Poor men with a turn of the
hand became rich. Hotels, bakeries,
breweries, drinking saloons and shops
were erected and reaped rewards quite
as large as did the diggers. 1t was a
marvellous scene at night when the op-
posite camps were lit up with the warm
glow of lights shining through the tent
cloth buildings and the brilliant camp
fires of their $1,000 inhabitants glinted
across the water, from bank to bank
Far into the night were kept up the
shouts and laughter and singing and
music, and the crossing and recrOssin9
of the boats. The excited crowds
shifted their quarters up and down the
river, making new discoveries during
1870 and 1871, over an area of from
forty to fifty miles of the stream, and
forming many camps such as Gong
Gong, Union Kopje, Colesberg Kopje,
Delport's Hope, Blue Jacket, Forlorn
Hope, Waldeks' Plant, Larkin's Flat
and Niekerk's Hope.-F'rom illustrated
paper, IN Midsummer Holiday Scribner.