The Opelousas courier., 1894-04-28
PUZZLES FROM A MINE.
THE HISTORY OF THE DIAMOND
SHROUDED IN MYSTERY.

III Afr1ca's Mines.
x S is pretty widely known, the
IA diamond mines of South
~ Africa, situated chiefyin Girl
6 qualand West, consist of
large depressions, filled with earth,
varying in color from yellow to gray
and blue, which is described as a tough.
dry mud of volcanic origin, sometimes
hardened into rock. This mud. or
''blue," as it is technically called, is
enclosed in a basin of rock geologically
known as "pipe," which is supposed to
be = crater Of an extinct volcano, into
WI. n the mud has been injected from
below. The four principal pipes or
mines lie within a radius of a few miles.
and areknown as Kimberley, De Beers,
Dutoitspan and Bultfontein. The gen
eral features of all are alike; in each,
the upper part of the soil is yellow,
changing, at from fifty to one hundred
feet from the surface, to a 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 dia-
mond; 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 contrarys the deeper the
excavations are carried the better APP
pears the output.
The ''blue," when ~excavated, is car
ried up and spread on the ground,
where it lies for months, to be disin-
| tegrated 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
substances, among which MI. A. A..
Anderson, the traveller, believes he
found many well-worked flint imple-
ments from different depths; and Mr..
NJ. E. Barber, as early al 1871, re-
ported the discovery of many worn
and perfect flint implements at Coles
berg Kopje, in diamondiferous soil,
from considerable depths, which, if
confirmed, would add another to the
many puzzles connected with the
diamond mines, especially if the vol
canic theory is to be mair aimed. Mr..
Anderson, however, looks upon the
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 an ancient river, now repre-
sented by the Vaal, distant twelve
miles or more, the bed of which at
various points, and the rocky banks
on both sides, are rich in diamonds.
the rock of the river bed being of the
same nature as that which encloses the
mines. Biologists generally incline
to the volcanic theory, but believe
that the diamonds are of an earlier
date than the upheaval of the mud
containing them from an enormous
depth.
The great majority Of South African
diamonds are amorphous, cloudy, vel
lowish-looking, soapy-feeling masses,
varying in size from a pins head to a
small pebble; but some are perfect
octahedrons, white and very brilliant.
These are, of course, the most valu'
able and, singular to relate, although
these varieties occur in all the mines
yet the general characteristics OF the
gems, whether dull or brilliant, white
or yellow, are sufficiently distinctive
to enable an expert to say at a glance
from which mine a diamond has come
the same holding good of Vaal Rive
gems, and of those from Jagersfcntein
in the Orange Free State.
Here, then, is another puzzle. How
is it that gems SO apparently similar
having presumably a common origil
and embedded in the same matrlx
have acquired varying characteristics
Dame Nature is an adept at hidln!
her secrets even from the prying eye
of scientists, for although the diamon'
mines of South Africa have bee]
known and worked for more tina
twenty years, scarcely anything ha
been added to our knowledge OF tn
gem itself. The %anc;ents called j
Adamant, and we still regard it as tn
hardest of all things; yet it is easil
smashed by a well-directed blow, ca
: | be cut in flakes by the dishonest jewel
!. | Ter, and is often found 80 cracked an
! , fawed as to crumble to pieces un
!. touched; nevertheless the splinter
!, will pierce the hardest rock, and eve
!! when reduced to the finest powder
. will cut and polish all other gems.
Until the discovery of the Sout
African mines, all diamonds came fror
|, India and Brazil; but it was, of course
the Indian mines which supplied th
Old World; and, strange as it ma
seem, to our belief in the superiorit
{ of modern craftsmen, the jewelers. 6
ancient India, and possibly Of Rom
.. also. had discovered the art of Ell
CRAVING and even of piercing the dis
mond, an art which our modern jew
elers find most difficult.
2 Thousands, perhaps millions {
: years the diamond has been in exist
7 ence, yet it's origin is still a mystery
Pure carbon. the chemists call it, bu
in what alembic it is distilled the
: know not. Embedded in mud, it r.
8 manned undefiled; yet sometimes
will be found tinted by some chemic'
z process so as to become pink, blu
|. yellow, and even black, but it alwa,
: remains q diamond, not to be col
!. founded with the commoner erysta
:. which often bear it company. In Il