Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-03-26
ODD THINGS IN A NINE
THE HISTORY OF THE DIAMOND IS
sHRoUDEp N MYSTERY.

THE HISTORY OF THE DIAMOND IS
sHRouDED IN MYSTERY.
Does Nature Scatter Her Precious Gems
broadcast From sons World In Space!
Perfect FLINT Instrunesn Found In Dis
mondifsrous Soil.
Tho following paragraph appears in 4
South African paper: AT the Primer
mine blast was put in about 10 feet from
the surface and in the yellow ground some
) feet below the limestone formation,
which upon being exploded brought down
tmong the displaced diamondiferous soil
perfect and full sized ostrich egg. This
wonderful discovery Is apparently petri-
fed and evidently hollow, and must have
been Embedded in the ground for count
less years, and without exception Is the
most extraordinary find yet made in the
history Of diamond mining"
This Is certainly very curious discov-
my, but It does not stand alone, for os-
Drich eggs more or less perfect have been
,ound both at De Beers and Colesberg
kopie in a fossilized condition. Large
pisCtS VI CudITel iOs5sl VcSsA AsHsS $500
been found from time to time, one OF which
II described AZ portion OF fossil tree .
feet in length and nearly feet in circum-
ference. This was found in Dutoitspan
mine at depth of feet At Kimberley
there was dug up part Of stem OF tree
with branch attached at a depth OF 3oo
feet from the surface, and still more sin-
gular find was an ants nest quite perfect
and undisturbed.
Another very remarkable fact Is that
more than. once q broken diamond has
been found, and at some distance from IL
the other portion, the two parts uniting
perfectly. This was the case with the won
derful black diamond, which forms por-
ton OF the collection OF Mr.. Streeter, the
well known Bond sweet jeweler. The dia-
mond referred to, which is said to be the
largest black diamond known, was found
in South Africa three or four years ago.
It was in the form Of half peddle and
has been reduced by cutting from 1897
carats toG6 carats weight, and Mr.. Street
er has now secured the other half, which
was found quite recently.
All these discoveries seem to initiate
against the generally received opinion as
to tho origin Of these remarkable mines.
As Is pretty widely known, the diamond
mines of South Africa, situated chiefly in
Griqualand West, consist Of large depres-
sions, filed with earth, varying in color
from yellow to gray and blue, which is
described as tough, dry mud OF volcan-
ic origin, sometimes hardened into rock.
This mud, or blue, as it is technically call
ed, is inclosed in basin Of rock geolog-
icnlly known as pipe, which Is supposed
to be a crater Of an extinct volcano, into
which the mud has been injected from be-
low. The four principal pipes or mines
lie within radius of few miles and are
known as mberley, De Beers, Dutoitspan
and Bultfontein. Tho general features OF
all are alike. In each the upper part OF
the soil is yellow, changing, mt from 80 to
100 feet form the surface to n blue ground
of greater density. The diamonds were
first discovered in the yellow earth, and
when the miners had cleared that out they
imagined that they had come to the end
of the diamonds, but it was soon found
that they were even more abundant in the
blue ground, and since that time the mines
have been carried down to 600 and 800 feet
without any diminution in the yield. On
the contrary, the deeper the excavations
Atc NuiiiNd bic oNttNt apBNuAS VIZ De'efN-"'
The blue, when excavated, is carriedup
and spread on the ground, where it lies
for months, to be disintegrated by air and
water and is then washed and picked over
carefully by hand to find the diamonds.
Scattered through the blue earth are not
only diamonds, but a great variety of crys-
tails, agates, iron pyrites and other sub
stances, among which Mr.. A. A. Ander-
son, the traveller, believes he found many
well worked flint implements from differ
ent depths, and Mr.. NJ. Il. Barber as ear
ly as 1871 reported the discovery of many
worn and perfect flint implements at Coles
berg Kopie, in diamondiferous soil from
bio depths, which, il confirmed,
would add another to the many puzzles
connected with the diamond mines, espe-
cially il The volcanic theory Is to be main
tanned. Mr.. Anderson, however, looks
upon tho blue ground as occupying the
bed Of an ancient lake, and that the dia-
monds, flint implements, fossil wood and
other substances had been brought down
by nm ancient river, now represented by
the Vaal, distant IL miles or more, the
bed Of which at various points and the
rocky banks on both sides are rich in dia-
monds, tho rock of the river bed being of
the sams nature rs that which incloses
the mines. Biologists generally incline to
the volcanic theory, but believe that the
are of an earlier date than the
upheaval of the mud containing them from
mn enormous depth. 1t seems very hard to
imagine volcanic eruption of mud con-
tanning all the curious things found in the
diamond mines, and especially the undis-
turbed ant nest.
The great majority Of South Africa dia-
monds are amorphous, cloudy, yellowish
looking, soapy feeling masses, varying in
size from pins head to small pebble,
but somc are perfect octahedrons, white
and very brilliant. These are. of course, :,
the most valuable; and singular to relate,
although these varieties occur in all the
mines, yet the general characteristics of
the gems, whether duh or brilliant, white
or yellow, are sufficiently distinctive to en-
able an expert to say at glance from
which mine diamond has come. the same
holding good Of Vaal river gems, and Of
those from Jagersfontein, in the Orange
Free State.
Here, then, is another puzzle. How Is
It that gems 30 apparently similar, having
common origin and embed
tied ip the same matrix. have acquired va
ryinI characteristics Dame Nature is an
adept at hiding her secrets even from tie
prying eyes of scientists, for although the
mines of South Africa have been