The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-05-30

| few Sometimes remain in sheltered places.
1t is most dangerous to do SO, ana, III
deed, the mines are, under all olrcum-
stances, places of great peril. 1t Is SAID
| that on the average o man is killed eVory
| day by tho falling of masses of rock.
| When the blue is raised from the mine
| it is carried out to the fields and spread
about, making the most desolate looking
| place imaginable. The fields cover about
seven thousand acres and generally con-
tain about q million truck loads of BIZ @.
The average value of the blue is perhaps
IS q load, SO that s.. DOC, COO worth Of
diamonds ara constantly lying OH the
| fields. When the blue has been exposed
to the weather long enough, the superin-
| tendent announces that it is ready for
further work. Negro workmen thon go
at it with heavy picks aud break the
Jumps up as finely as possible Then
water, which is brought in pipes from
the Vaal River, sixteen miles away, is
plentifully applied by means Of long
hose similar to these used by fire COM
panes. Then harrows and clod crushers
| are used, and then more wa ter, and then
heavy rollers, and SO on until the blue is
transformed into soft mud. Then it is
| loaded into trucks again and carried to
the washing sheds
Here it is raised by elevators to q
height of fifteen or twenty feet and
| dumped into a series OF sieves, viii CHI
free it from stones and Jumps. Next it
goes into the washing machines, which
nre round, fiat iron pans, in which re-
volve arms furnished with spikes to
stir and churn the contents of the pan.
Water Is constantly poured into the pans
and it carries off the worthless liquid
mud. %l'he residue is carted Off for
further treatment, to wit, about one per
| cent. of the total original mass of the
blue. Even this small residue Is present
ly reduced to one-third its bulk by being
passed through series OF sleeves working
up and down in clean water. Here all
substances much lighter than diamonds
are thrown off. At last the precious re-
mainder is brought in Stoves and spread
upon sorting tables. The work of sorting
is conducted according to the individual
taste Of the manager. Some managers
will employ only Europeans of good
character. Others employ boys. AT least
one employs mono but negro conviots.
These latter are said to do the best work
of all They are dressed in clean white
canvas and are rewarded according to tho
amount Of diamonds they find
Much has been written about the rigid
searching system to which all employees
are subjected. There is indeed, such q
system, but it is largely a mere FORM
The negro workmen in the mines wear
no clothes at all when at work, but leave
their garments outside the Mines to re-
sumo them when their days work is
done. 1t is therefore manifestly almost
impossible for them to steal and carry
| away any gems they might find. Tho
white workmen are not searched at all.
An attempt to do it was made in 1894,
but led to serious riots and some blood
shed, and was promptly abandoned.
The workmen stand in long lines at
the sorting tables, each with heap of
dark moist pebbles in front of him. Each
has small iron scraper in his hand with
which he draws away from the pile a
handful of the pebbles, spreads and turns
them again and again, SO as to expose to
his viaw every individual bit of stone.
| Now and then he sees diamond. He
picks it up and drops it into tin box
with not half the concern a boy mani
tests when he picks up m angle worm
and drops it into his bait box When
his work is done, he hands the box full
of gems to the superintendent, who takes
them to tho manager, who weighs thorn
and enters them III his register, and then
seals them up and takes them to the
oompany's appraiser in the dia IN ond
market, who in turn sorts and classifles
them and hands them to brokers to sell.
Thus the diamonds are found in three
ways, or at three times. First in the
claims, when the blue is broken up by
blasting. Second, on the depositing
floors after the blue has been exposed to
the weather q sufficient time to break it
mp. And third, in the sorting after the
blue has been washed.
The offices of the company in Kim
berley are no less interesting than the
mines. In them one may see numerous
little piles of what might be samples of
| coffee occupying shelves along the sides
of the room. These are piles of uncut
diamonds, worth hundreds of thousands
of dollars, exposed as earelessly as though
they were mere pebbles. In each little
heap there is perhaps half pint of them,
and half million dollars worth may
often be seen exposed at once in a mod
est little room. Comparatively few Of
| them show to the unpractised eye their
real value. Some look like common peb-
bles Others like bits of glass, while some
shine with brilliant lustre. The officials
employed IN these offices are of course,
paid good salaries. Many of them get
from $40, 900 to $50, 900 year. There is
really nothing however, to prevent them
from adding to their income by pocket
ing diamonds, excepting their sense of
honesty and honor. 1t must be said that
this sense is very highly cultivated.
Thieying in the offices IS of rare OCCUR
renee.
Indeed, throughout the entire commu-
nifty the company's ownership of all dia-
monds is generally reoog nized Years
ago, before the consolidation Of all the
mines. under the ownership of single
company, people often picked up dia-