Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1893-03-24

meaning that a hand was placed !
fat in the bottom of the pail,
and water poured in to the height |
of the half arm. For weeks
many of the men never washed
their faces, and looked like inha=
bitants Of lower region, We |
managed to get through at a ter
ific cost, as it now appears, but
in those days money and dia-
monds lay around broadcast, to
such an extent that a servant
finding a sovereign in a hut
would look up his master at the
nune, or oanteen, and saying,
Here boss get a quarter for
finding it, or if it were diamond,
fifty cents. Money was OF little |
value in a way of speaking, and
l grew tired of the very name OF
diamonds, and regarded them
only as piece of dirty, yellow
glass, which they looked like,
One day after weeks hard rain,
Frank came in and said, Come
up to the nodule banks; you will
see something Of interest.
The nodules were large pieces
of hard, gray-blue, tufaceous
limestone, the soil in which dia-
monds are found, and SO plenti-
full were the stones that the min
ers would not trouble to break up
a hard nodule, but tossed it out
of the way; and at that time a
bank of them ran on either side
of the road from the mine to the
outskirts of the town, Dried
| and baked under the burning
sun, a heavy rain crumbled them
to pieces, and turned them into a
thick, black slush that flowed
over the road,
"Dick Wilmington dreamed of
London streets paved with gold,
but here are Kimberly streets
paved with diamonds" said my
husband.
This was true in one sense, for
there in the slime, on their hands
and knees, was every camp loafer
and tramp, every Boer child
within walking distance, sieving
the mud through coarse Wire-net-
ting, looking for diamonds, and
finding enough to pay them well
for their work. 1t was a curious
sight, and | felt half inclined to
, them, it seemed so foolish to
stand by and see diamonds pick,
ed up from beneath the feet,
} without trying to get ones share,
} | had one very curious expert,
ence. ! was in a store one day
, when a loafer from Klipdrift came
in with chocolate-colored peb~
) BILE, rough and nearly round in
shape, seemingly with transpar-
ept matter under the film, as 1t
!, had glittering points about it. |
l wanted to buy it, but he wanted
3 $500 for it, SO l refused. Later
:. in the day he met me and offered
. it for 800, but | was annoyed
and would not have had it at any
y price, and finally he tried to trade
t it for bottle of beer,
S Well, week after it was sold,
y and eventually sent to England,
n for $4,000, 1t was one of the
! first diamonds found in a matrix
or envelop at the Kimberly
0 mines, where all the stones had
: previously been found naked
n The Indian and Brazilian mines
). had nearly all the stones envel,
- oped with matrix, ! was sc
. vexed | did not know how tc
$ abuse myself sufficiently,
6 Servants? All, that was ten.
J; der point! Native women were
IS the only ones we could get, anc
q it was a choice between two evils
- an ignorant one who was liabl,
- to strip all her clothes off at any
II minute to do the work in her owr
e unsophisticated way, or the more
civilized contingent, who would
demand permission to promenad,
~ daily from 2 p. m. to 4 p. m.
II hours when no white woman
d could stand the glare of the sun
IS Then they would rig themselve,
= up in all the fnery they owned
- or any they could lay hands OF
IL belonging to their mistress, ant
% march up and down Main street
1t ridiculous, as only an African
II