Morning journal and courier., 1891-12-17

"A Soutn AZ
 rica-Where the Rough Stones are
 Found and the People who Search
 for Them-Ignorance of the Native
 Workman Precautions Against
 Stealing.
 From Blackwood's Msgazine.I
 Ipurpose describing in detail the vari- ous stages of digging for, sitting, sorting, selling-and, may add, stealing-these stones, as illustrated by the De Beers, the principal mine in Kimberley.
 Although there is no secret whatever in any part of the operations, it is obvious that the most stringent precautions are necessary to prevent theeasy theft of such multum in parvo treasures as precious stones; and therefore it is reasonably re- quired that all visitors shall be provided with a permit to inspect the works. The diamondiferous area is enclosed and screened by means of high barbed wire fencing and lofty corrugated iron hoard ing, as skillfully disposed as one of yau- bans fortresses; and is further safeguard ed externally at night by numerous armed patrols and by powerful electric lights casting glare on every spot otherwise fla NOIdDlo tO IndIduQ6rs- AIUeT having been somewhat carefully scruti- nized I am admitted through a narrow gateway, and find myself confronted with a gigantic, apparently almost bottomless, pit, compared with which the crater of Vesuvius would be puny, and which marks the earlier scenes of open ground labor. In course of time huge masses of earth be- gan to slip down from the sides, entailing such peril, and-far more important to the eager owners-such a clogging of work that the original process was abandoned in favor of sinking shafts and subterraneous mining. Equipped in miners slops, sup piled with bare candle, and chaperoned by one of the superintendents, I am shot down an ordinary incline to a depth of seven hundred feet below the surface whence we further descend another ninety feet by means of slippery, perpendicular ladders, leading down piercings just large enough to admit the body. Here We reach a widened level at the very heart of the diamond bearing earth, which is hot, stihing and intensely dark. Long, low tunnels radiste through scene of which the principal features are rushing trucks, fiickering lights and shouting workmen, common to all large mining operations and calling for no special description. Only by degrees do I notice characteristics of details so strange as to cause these mines to differ from all others. Hundreds of Katirs are plying pick and shovel, wheel ing barrows and tilting trucks, with a might-and-main earnestness rare among | natives. Although they differ greatly in size and shades of darkness, owing to the variety of tribes gathered together from far-apart districts of south Africa, they are, on the whole, of fine physical devel- | opment. I was enabled to take leisurely | note of further details concerning the Ks- | fir workmen. My questions were transla- sed into native "pidgin" Kafr, jargon compounded of the numerous dialects of | the various tribes.
 The men seemed cheerful and bright af- | ter fashion, but their replies lacked in \ telligence and betrayed low order of in | tellect. I must, however, in justice, pre- | mise that this particular group was com posed of the most inferior specimens of | natives. For instance, found that nine | or ten comprised their highest familiar mo- | tation; fifteen and upwards puzzled them: Ligher figures could only be expressed by l a clumsy periphrasis; while two or three ! hundred was quite beyond their realiza- | ton, and was vaguely conceived as "a very | great number" "How old are youf in | quired of one, but the overseer explained | that none of them has the idea of his own | age. Their sole landmarks are certain i'm | portant events which befell their tribes, | such as some particular war, great fam inc, general drought or cattle sickness. | "Only last week" he added, "a Kair be- ing asked q similar question, and replying in total ignorance, European interposed | -'Let me look at your teeth. I will soon | tell you. Why, you must be one hundred at least The native immediately assem-
 bled his fellows around him, and told
 them the baas (master) had pronounced him one hundred years old, in an ecstasy | of pride at the attainment of an age 1 which he considered added so much to his | dignity" One Kair rejoiced iu a snake. | skin charm round his neck; another wore | O string-his sole article of vesture-tied
 to his thigh, whence depended a small
 leather pocket containing five or six shil-
 lings-a large sum for a wild native-and
 his working ticket. The only drinks al.
 lowed are tea, coffee or water; and I was
 struck with the simple and clever device
 for constantly cool supply of the last, by
 means of common bags of coarse canvas, | which. when soaked, became sufficiently
 impermeable to retain the bulk of the
 fluid, but sufficiently porous to admit of 6
 continual oozing and icy evaporation.
 | While We were casually conversing wa,
 startled by a terrific roar, followed by 6
 reverberation and quivering of the walls
 and arches as though convulsed by ST
 earthquake and by a violent rush of wind
 which instantly extinguished every light
 in the vicinity. 'Doubtless a hideous ca
 tastrophe," 1 reflected "some portion ot
 the mine has fallen in; We gre imprisoned
 like rats in a trap, and shall feed on each
 others carcasses until released by lin | gering death" Profound silence in tho
 pitch darkness, only broken by the heavy
 breathing of the native workmen and aftel
 sew seconds by the scraPing of lucifel
 matches for relighting our candles. No
 body seemed in inc least discompOsed, and
 the answer to my awe-stricken inquiry
 was: ''Oh, nothing at all; only dynsmit,
 blasting in an adjacent chamber" 1 af
 terwards found that these explosions wer,
 of frequent occurrence; but on each occa
 sion to resist the impulse of a startled | jump taxed the strongest nerves
 Let us turn our attention from the per
 sonal to the material for which thousand
 of human brings in this district are toil
 ing day and night about eight hundred feet below the ground. The diamondifer ous earth, locally termed the blue" i
 reached at A varying depth, and is found
 in a hardened but frisble condition. It i detached with comparative ease, and tn process of filling trucks, each of whicl
 holds sixteen hundred pounds, is carrieC } on increasingly, on A very large scale, ant . with the utmost rapidity. The content : are hauled to the top by powerful steau
 machinery, and if we follow their furthe destination the scene changes in suddel = and wondrous contrast from dark, stifiin | tunnels to bright, sunshiny farms, wher
 the soil is turned up, and watered an,
 narrowed, and vivifed by the action c f ] wind and sun, and where the resultin l crop is-diamonds. On reaching the SUI
 face the "blue" is tilted into railway wss
 ons, and by means of divergent lines c !, rails and wire ropes is hauled in vast mas ! es into the adjacent open country, wher it is distributed over the fiat to depth C , two and one-half feet. The extensiy e area so occupied is protected by barbe
 | wire fencing ten feet nigh, and is guarde l by patrols both by day and by night. Tn
 l effects of the weather causes the friabl 4 Jumps to disintegrate still further, th 0 process is aided by alternate harrowiu S and watering, and in about six months a
 but the most obdurate fragments, whic o are left for further treatment varyin ;- from three months to a year, are reduce
 to a size which admits of their being sui V iected to the washing machines. Train Q of carts convey the harvest to machiner
 sheds, where it is subjected to processt \, which in corn would be analogous a thrashing, winnowing and sitting
 After the English sOrters have secure !, the greater part of the contained treasur - have, as 1t were, picked the plums ou ' of the pudding-the debris is passed O '' to the native convicts for the discovery (
 ths casually remaining entrants. The