Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1888-10-18
THE DIAMONDS HOME.
Facts Concerning the Great Mines
or south Africa.

South African diamond fields. by
which twenty-four whites and two
hundred natives persisted, as reported
from Cape Town, via London. has
awakened fresh interest among those
who deal in the most valuable of prec-
ious stones. BY far the greatest por-
ton of the diamonds now obtained
co me from the m mes of South Africa,
VIII CHI were discovered near Hopetown
1867 by some Dutch children. The
mines are situated in Griqualand West.
now part OF Cape Colony. in lat tude
20 degrees 40 minutes, long tude 20
degrees 10 minutes east. about GAO
miles northeast of Cape Town, and $40
miles from the sea coast Although
hey are al an elevation of nearly 1000
feet above the sea level. the heat is
excessive during the summer months.
when the work is principally carried
on.
According to the first repor of the
terrible calamity it was that 'the De
Beers Coal Nine at Kimberley" had
caught fire. The manifest error in re-
gard to the character of the mine was
not corrected in subsequent dispatches,
but the cause of the fatal fire was ex-
planned this way: "While the shifts
were being changed the auling WIRE
broke and the skip rushed down the
shaft with frightful rapidly The oil
lamps were broken, and the blazing
fluid quickly ignited the wooden cas-
ing of the shaft. Flames in great vol
ums shot up the shaft, completely pre-
venting egress. The mine was soon
filled with smoke. and the lights car
ried by the miners were rendered use
less The panic-stricken natives and
whites. in their efforts to escape, be-
came massed together in the CALLER
les and were suffocated to death"
The superintendent of the De Beers
Mine is Gardener +. Williams. of Oak.
land. Cal. He went to South Africa on
his second trip in the latter part of
1886. He is a regular correspondent
of George +. Kunz. Tiffany &c Co.'S gem
expert and mneraIogist. A New York
Times reporter talked with Mr.. Kunz
and obtained from him some interest
ing facts about the De Beers IN mes.
The mine covers 134 acres or 610
claims, each 81 feet square, with a
roadway of 10 feet between each claim.
The mines were orig nally worked in
individual claims. 3. l43 in number,
each 81 feet square. with roadway
! u feet wide between each pair of
claims These small claims are now
consolidated into about ninety large
companies and private firms. hav ng
gross capital OF nearly $50, 900. 900.
There are four large mines. all within
a radius Of mile and half. The
celebrated Kimberley covers seven and
II half acres. Tnirty-three million
karats lover six and a half tons) of d la
monds have already been taken out
valued in the rough at f45. 600, 900 aud
after cutting at 800. 000 600. The abb
sorption of the smaller By the larger
companies is constantly going on, and
it is proposed to consolidate all the
companies into one. Ten thousand
natives. each receiving FL week. are
are employed in the m mes under the
supervision of 1.200 European over
seers. The enormous sam of over
f1 900. 600 is annually expended for
labor.
This mammoth investment of Euro
pean capital would have been more
profitable to the shareholders were it
not for the thievishness of the native
diggers. who. instigated by the vicious
whites that congregate on the field. at
one tine stole and disposed of from
one-fifth to one-fourth of the entire
yield. More improved methods of sur
veillance, recently introduced. have di-
minishcd this loss. None but author
lied agents are permitted to purchase
or possess rough diamonds, and large
detective force is on the alert to pre-
vent any infringement of the rules.
A record is now kept of every diamond
found. The thieves have been caught
making chickens swallow diamonds In
the mine, and post mortem held on
one of the natives who died suddenly
revealed the fact that his death was
caused by sixty-karat diamond VIII ich
he had swallowed.
According 10 the latest official re-
ports there were employed in the De
Beers nine 1874 whites and 275S na-
tives. OF the latter 500 were hired
from the government at u cost of f5s
per annum. Formerly the natives
were allowed to leave the mines, but
owing to the fraudulent traffic carried
on $500 of them were last year COM
pounded. They practically lived in the
mines, and were better off than those
who had there freedom. The old sys-
tenn of open workings has been to a
great extent abandoned for the shaft
and under ground plan. Under the
original method the excavations were