The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1881-02-17
rt,snds M p,.wonds.

Perhaps q brief description of hls land
Of gems may interestyour readers. This
place is about seven hundred miles in
land from Cape Town, and about five
hundred from Port Elizabeth. To reach
Kimberly from Cape Town one has to
travel through q country called the Great
Karroo, a barren, rocky tract, with
scarce any signs of life in it. It is about
three hundred miles through it. A more
desolate region can scarcely be found I
do not think I saw ten acres, for q dis
lance of two hundred miles, that could
possibly be plowed; and, Judging from
appearances, I think q rat, to travel
through the Karroo, would need o KNAPP
sack on his back, well laden with pro-
visions, to sustain life on his journey,
unless he was of near kin to Dr.. Tanner.
Kimberly, like its surroundings, is a bar
rem waste, very unpleasant for a family
home. Most of the country here is
worthless for farming purposes. Water
is scarce; wood is very scarce. 1t is
brought here by ox-teams from a distance
of 100 miles, and sold on the market at
auction for from $25 to $50 per load, &C
cording to size and quality. None of it
would be merchantable in your city. Old
dead wood, dug up by the roots and
brought to market, roots and all, sells
from $25 to $50 per load; and a load of
live wood (unsplit), containing one and a
half cords, sells for $40 to $50 per load.
Potatoes grow to about the size OF En-
glish walnuts. Beets, carrots, onions,
cucumbers and lettuce are luxurles nearly
unknown here. The dust and dirt is
fearful. Icannot describe it and do JUS
tice to the subject. It fills your eyes,
poca opd aoro or1 pnoto uor1r hair and
whiskers; and as for clothes, the natives,
who wear none, have the advantage, as
the water is hard and miserable, full Of
dirt, and sells for sixty cents per barrel
| for washing pose and as for drink
ing, something stronger is the common
beverage here. But the diamondsl It
is truly q land of diamonds. Already
over 1925, 600, 900 worth have been dis
covered. In the late war one of the
chiefs ~(Saccahuni) offered a quart meas
IRE full of diamonds for a cannon. Claims
of t~hirty-one square feet have sold for
$$48, 600 per claim! The mines are all
worked by large companies. The largest
is q French company. The manager in
formed me that their expenses were
$40, 600 per month. They take out OF
their claims four hundred load of dia-
mondiferous earth per day, worth on an
average $14.40 per load. There are sew
aral large companies in the same mine.
A mile and O half from here is another
mine called old De Beers mine. Three
miles further there is another n called
Ou Tait's Pan, and one mile from thai
) another called Bulpantien. All these
are extensively worked by companies,
Bulpantien Mine was originally a farm
ON which was built q brick house, and OF
the discovery of diamonds the house wa.
found to contain the precious gems IL
the plaster used to lay the brick and il
the plastered walls, while the children
played with'what they called ''the shin.
stones" There has recently been a dia
mond mine discovered, eight miles fror
here, called ELEPHANTS Fantein. Claim
to the number of nine hundred hay
been surveyed and sold in that mine
and the people here are wild with specu
lation. An acquaintance of mine bough
| claims in Jager's Fantien Mine, fort,
miles from here, which cost him $40
and in a short time he was offered $33,
{ 600 for said claim. 1t seems that me-
are like bubbles the world over. Som
go up and explode financially, the ez
) ploding portion being by far the mos
numerous. The penalty for buying
q diamond Of a negro is five years i'm
prisonment at hard labor and q fine {
, 50, 400 for the first ~ofense, and ten year.
for the second. And yet the temptatio
is so great that out of a population {
&c. 900 there are over 600 now in prise
for illicit diamond buying and damon
stealing. Some of the prisoners al
. worth $40, 600 to 5000, 600. Surely th
way of the transgressor is hard.-Sout
Africa Cor Hartford Times. see