The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-12
HARD TO STEAL DIAMONDS.
II AFFIRS AT THE KIMBERLY NINE
EXAMINED FROM GROWN TO SOLE.

DeneAih AheAf NAth ny most IN
genious DevieeS-Niues of the Lon
don Syndicate.
From the San Francisco Exami1err
What others have said OF the enormous
output. the vast resources OF the mines.
the cost of operation, etc. the newly ar
rived traveller fully confirms. His most
interesting story, however. as already In
timated. refers to the searching of min
ers at kimberley and other diamond
mines.
The miners are all KafHrs. chiefly Zu-
lus and Basutos. They are great big pow
erful men, and work on the contract sys-
tenn much as Chinese laborers were for
merly contracted for here. These miners
are practically paid slaves. Their services
belong to the man who hires them and he
has complete control over their bodies.
None are allowed to leave the mine ex-
cept with a pass, and If found away from
the reservation of their employers can be
arrested without ceremony and returned,
providing they are not fortified with a
permit.
The pay of the miners is half a crown. or
about 60 cents a day. They are allowed
two pounds of meat once a week. and
they subsist otherwise on corn meal or
mealy pat as it is called-a kind of
corn meal mush or porridge. Their bev-
erage Is kaffir beer and Cape smoke" IL
KIND OF brandy. They come from all over
the continent, travelling from 200 10 500
miles to reach the place of their employ
ment Although they are spoken Of as
boys, they are seldom younger than 20
years. and men as old as 30 work in the
Mines. OI clothes they have none when
az work They occasionally wear a leather
belt round the waist or a leather band
round the arm, merely as an ornament
A miners lsf a.,
the morning and lasts until O'Clock in
the afternoon, with an hour in the middle
OF me day for dinner 4 gang of twenty
10 thirty men is under the charge of each
white boss, who keeps continual watch
ana IS well armed. In spite of the most
careful watching some of the miners es-
cape. Ihey usually save up their earn
lngs and disappear until they have spent
an their money; then they return. At the
slightest sign of fever they win fit like a
swarm OF locusts and as soon as the rainy
season sets i'm they come back
Every evening as the men come out of
the mines they are searched White men
or trusted blacks perform the searching,
and nothing more careful can be per-
formed. The searching by a customs OFF,
cial is superficial in comparison. The
men are divided off into small cOmpanies
time. The Kaffir stands with his arms
upltfted and the palms of his hands out
spread. First the arm-pits are carefully
examined; then with a sounding ham
mer' he gently taps the body. The mouth
and nose are scrutinized closely and then
the soles of the feet. Miners have been
known to cut the thick skin of the soles
of their feet and to push diamonds in I'M
| der the skin, deftly covering the ncison.
| The searcher examines the sole OF each
| foot with lighted candle, watching with
| trained eyes for the faintest sign of re-
| fraction of light Occasionally when the
searcher suspects that the miner has
swallowed some of his findings, the doctor
| is sent for. and a strong emetic soon
causes the kaffir to disgorge all he has
| swallo owed.
| The searchers are so expert that the ex-
animation is very rapid as well as very
| thorough To be caught means a term of
| imprisonment for the thief Of from two to
seven years, and Imprisonment in South
| Africa is not by any means as bearable
| as in San Quentin The prisoners are put
| to work on the brealxwater or on other
| laboriouS toll.
In the alluvial soil of the River Vaal.
| which rushes down from the mountains
| of Draken in South Africa, thousands of
Dlack-sklnned natives are to-day eagerly
| looking Tor those precious stones that
| "blaZe in the sunlight, and at night re-
| fleet sun of their own" They have long
| since laid by the spear and the bow, for
| the invading white man has taught them
a new lesson, imbued them with a new
| passion. 1t is the passion of the diamond
hunt. Where the earth displays a struc-
ture that quite confounds the geologist-
| since it's contradictory strata have almost
completely upset his theories-there this
noble jewel is found in the greatest
| abundance.
When the radient diamond of Africa
| comes before it reaches the River Naal
! has not yet been determined. If we seek
to trace the stream to its sources we find
| hundreds of purling streams that drip
| down the steep decliVities and gather in
! a lake below. Filled to overfoweing, this
| lake surges over its rugged barriers and
| descends with deafening roar into the
| valley below. With the fall OF sparkling
| water descends the brut dianant-the
| diamond in the rough; and with il came
| fragments OF every kind of stone Per-
! haps the gems have their origin in the
| mountains of Draken, perhaps in the
mysterious and seemingly never-ending
promontories to the north Those who
| know most about 1t declare their ignor-
ance and we still look to scientists for an
| explanation.
However, the scientific reason for the
| presence of the precious stone in the River
| Vaal and the territory around it (until ii
| mergeS into the gemless Orangel is not
! what most concerns that ironbound COM
bination of money-makers which has
taken possession of this otherwise desert
| ed spot. There is an organization in Lon
don known the London Rough Dia-
mond Syndicate, which extends q long arm
and a grasping hand into the dark soil OF
! Africa. The demands of the syndicate are
extensive, and to fill its enormous palm
those who have sacrificed all the adyan-
tages of civilized society and invested
! their capital in the mud of the wilderness
concentrate all their attention.
While the wild and shining eyes of the
! negro are ever bent into the besmirched
waters of the Vaal there are other eyes,
no less attentive, which note every move
ment of the savage. These eyes belong to
the owners of the territory or their
agents; for the natives are mere en-
ployes, who work for so much per week.
With the continual shifting of the
course of the river, the operations of the
| diamond diggers vary. Twenty-Five years
ago, when the first stone of twenty-five
carats was found, the Vaal was flowing a
mile to the westward of its present posi-
ton. Now deep mines are sunk under the
former bed and men, some of whom will
never again see the light of day are noise
lessly working almost a thousand feet be-
low the surface.
The gems now found in the river are
small and those found nearest the sur
face are inferior in size to those found
at greater depth-which argues that
crystalzation becomes more perfect with
the lapse of time, and perhaps by contact
with the dry soil. Certain It is that most
of the enormous outlay of money which
keeps the industry of South Africa in
operation is invested in the mines.
OF these, the most prominent are the
Kimberly situated 720 miles from Cape
Town. The altitude is calculated at 1900
| meters above sea level The situation OF
the mines relative to the Vaal is north.