The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1885-06-06
DIAMONDS.
Where the Brilliant Beauties are Found
and How They are Mined.

| bitC vi COiUIUtTCt-
none, perhaps, is more curious than that
he major portion of the produce ex-
ported from South Africa is simply used
Tor the sdornment of ladiee Out of a
Total valte exported OF f7.500. 0oa :.
srich feathers al ..sa diamonds account for
Ie,ooo.o 600, Twenty years ago all known
diamonds had come to Europe or the
United States from immemerial eastern
stocks or from the seanty produce of
mines in Brazil and elsewhere, which
were calculated to yield not more than
100000 worth in the year. To-day.
situated in the midst of a wide-streteh-
ing plain affording at all points a sea-
line horizon of flat '.veldt," we find this
town of Kimberley with large Europe
an population Of ~eslthy and well-to-do
people. and a large native population
earning every year more than FL, 000,
900 sterling in, wages. And from this
mining oasis in the agricultural. desert
has been sent in the last fifteen years
something like Gao, 900, 900 worth of dia-
monds in the rough, which, with the cost
of cutting, setting. and selling. must
have taken from the pockets of con-
sumers something approaching f100,
! 600, 900
As all the world knows, the South
African diamond mines have their own
story of unexpected discovery at the
least as startling as that of any gold-feld
or other rich mineral deposit in the
world, In 1867 the trst diamond was
found, the favorite toy of a little Boer girl,
which she bad picked out from anon q
she roots Of an old tree. Its genuineness
was not long in doubt, and in a few
months the bed Of the Vaal river was
known as profitable diamond region.
Prospecting became the rage, and here
and there on the open, flat, grassy veldt
diamonds were found in spots with com
mon peculiarites of soil and so forth.
In three years time the secret of the
diamond deposits had been so far faith
omed as TO prove that they Were strange
circular deposits, or patches, of peculiar
earth isolated from one another aud few
in number. These were at once
rushed and a regulation digging
\ community took possession of the new
district. Private individuals, previous
proprieturs and governments fought for
the claim to these new mineral riches,
but despite these squabbles the practical
work was carried on of marking out
these circular patches in diggers' claims
over the flat surface. At first the rule
was each digger fof himself; and with
pick and shovel diamonds were brought
to grass in such profusion that the
whole mining world was startled by a
discovery exceeding in magnitude, real
and prospective, any previous find, But,
| as men dug deeper in their claims, so
| they found it necessary TO arrange and
amalgamate with their neighbors
moreover, the deeper they went the
more necessity for machinery to hoist
the soil to the surface. And then, as
they passed on through the top vel
| low" they came upon blue soil
which was yet more rich in diamonds.
Suffice it to say, that in ten years
time each one of these greater circular
areas had been so far emptied of soil as
to represent greSt quarries one hundred
to two hundred yards across, and three
hundred or four hundred feet deep
Early in the digging the geologist
! stepped in to point out that these circu-
lar basins were evidently species of
volcanic crater, followed out in the sur
face rock by subterranean action and
| filled up to the suface With Blue dia-
mondiferous mud. The walls of these
basins are locally known as the .reefs, ="
and in their greed to secure all they
could the older miners cut out all the
''blue' right up to the reef When,
however, the cuttings got down deep
the walls or reefs began to fall in
owing to the disintegrating action of boil
ing sun and heavy rain, covering up in
their fall large areas of valuable blue.
At first the digging was simple and
cheap-the mere turning up and
searching of loose soil; second stage
when the soil had to be cut out aud
Hauled up to the surface with the aid OF
machinery; a third stage brought the
miners to a stitfened blue which had
not only to be brought 10 the surface,
but then spread about and broken up by
| hand labor and exposure to the wealth.
er, and at the present moment all
around the mines are to be seen lite1.
| ally miles of the 'sblue,n laid out in
| shallow layers over the open veldt.
With these more extended operations
came more elaborate machinery fol
hosting, for sprea3i 'fl9ors,
ana sow Now, round each
great hSsef or quarry is circle Of
steam engines working wire-rope lifts
up and down to the bottom o.
the quarry; and round the brink run 10
comotives and trains of trucks whlskine
the blue so brought up away to be
spread out like so much manure oveI
the veldt and to be taken thence, wher
duly disintegrated by the weather,
broken up by hand, and narrowed ane
rolled. to the washing places, where
is all sent by hydraulic action through
a series of rotatory sleeves and pulsator'
on the principle of in successive me
chanical operations, washing away al
dirt that is lighter than diamonds. The
washers are so arranged that the out
fall of each portion Is graduated in size,
and falls on series OF sorting tables
At these stand five or six of the princi
pal NEWCOMERS and directors of com
panies among them-spreading out the
cleaned washed stuff graduated from
the size of pebbles to that of sand; and
the visitor may stand by in wonder tc
see the Searcher at the one end pick ont