The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-10-18
A 10000 LUMP OF EARTH
TIVE POUNDS OF Blue CLAF All
STUDDED WIN DIAMONDS.
Ii Was Struggled Out Of The Kimberly Dis
mond Mines Through the Most Per-
feet system OF inspection.

Take q good-sized lump Of BLUSH putty
knead IL into rough uuncated pyramid.
stick small bits OF waite and yellow ana
pale blue glass into the surface at ram
dem. AMI leave the putty 10 harden. and
when IL has hardened the result VIII Ice
a very fair imitation Of the most extra
ordinary Specimen ol diamOndiiefcu5
earth ever brought 10 TINS country. lnls
specimen is now in the possession OF Ben
JaMin ". Levy. a. diamond dealer VI tAls
I city. who bought il lu ana brought III
from South Africa. The Illustration
shows tho exact size Of the lump OF ealtn.
On the surface OF this lump or taill,
which is called blue mass are ioriy-iiF'
diamonds of good size. nile many oinei
smaller ones can be- seen fliutins through
thin encrustauon- .re mass Is lhs
regular diamond matriE the ehrh oI dI
the Kimberley mines iu South Africa. il
dissONes like lime under I'D POUNDS pres
sure lu water. ON nn average this eaitn
Yields about s.. worth " diamonds 10
tho ton. III it were am as rich in diamonds
as this lump suppose nly is rechouln5
from what appears ON the surface ol Do,
the WELD WoCld be- something Ike siA
million dollars ton. MT. Levy say
that until De finds an y ray tnat Will
show mp the interior of the specimen ne
can't tell the commercial Nalle OF hi7
prize. As q curiosity le considers IL 10
be worth about 5000.
or the diamonds on the surface or the
piece OF earth the llrg &c IS reck0nel 10
weigh about sixteen or seventeen cal-ts.
This one is nearly round end almost
completely encrustcl with the blue mass.
10 b. not of very good quality. The best
" the stones appears 20 DE on about iolt
C3rals weight. Several OF the olamohl7
are almost perfect oCfOhcdlOns, WINE
others show equal gcOwetricdl regularity,
but Jess completely The owner thinks
that the surface yllu. ls about Sl,-v.
Undoubtedly there are ciltr ulanunns IN
side the mass. and what The en ig value
Of the iamOnd yield would be- can only
be guessed al. Mr.. Levy refuses 20 say
what ho paid Tor the specimen. but he
states that in addition TO the money.
it cost him o great deal OF worry ana
anxiety 10 get 70 out ol africa, as oniy
gems bought through the regular cham
ncls can be taken ont through cape
town the customs officials Selling all oth-
ers This little bunch OF gems was not
bought through the regular channels. IL
was bought from kanlr VINO was MUIR
dercd shortly after Tire safe, presumably
because the murdcrcrs expected 10 md
the proceeds OF the lle upon him, IN
which they were prob bly, disappointed.
kanrs do not carry large sums or gold
about with them. Here IS the story or
the blue mass so FAR as -ir. Levy chooses
10 ten #:
lit was found" said Mr.. Levy to n sun
reporter 20 whom be was showing the
specimen, lin l,gl On one Of the himher-
ley mines. 500 feet below the earth sur
face. \ kaftr picked j. up jTst as II Is
there. How he nanaetd 10 get 1t 10 the
surface OF the earth l- pelou4 my pow
or 20 tell, almost beg ond IL 10 imagine.
Only one who knows OF the rigorous
watch kept by the oFeiseeFs upon the
kaiiirs who work the mines can compre-
bend the enormous oiicuitles OF se.lihs
out such a lump OF earth as that. why,
about the only way they can get single
stones is by sWallOwlns them.
Let me digrcss moment 10 tell you
something about the mine work. All the
digeers are natives. mostly kafiirs. They
como from their own land four days on
foot 10 work in the mines, ana get enough
money 10 20 home and buy a wife from
their king. All the women are owned
by the King. who sells them 10 the men.
That's the way the royal eNchequer -
kent up. \ wife reFr1 sents very long
term OF labor in the mines. so the kaiilr
is not above decrcasine MS period or ser
vice by secreting a few diamonds about
him If he can. TO keep the men from
getting away with all the diamonds. the
company has an overseer lor every, SIX or
eight workers. AS the haifrs work win
no clothing other than an extremely small
breech clOut opportunities Tor external
conccalment are very small. EVERY one
Of them is carefully searcned every Gay
before he leaves the mine. There are
stealing diamonds. One Is whipping. and
IL is 40 Joke the way II is done there.
The second is imprisonment. which is
likely to include whipping, and the third
Is being committed 10 the breakwater TO
freak stones In spite or all these pre-
cautions there are many diamonds stolen
yearly.
We'll to come back to the subject. II
IS almost inexplicable how fye-pound
lump OF diamond earth could be brought
out without discovery. Possibly the find
er OF IL may have kept 1t concealed for
months in the mine before he could get
IL up: and undoubtedly there was concert
ed action on the part or several men.
They generally work together. Any way,
brought out IL was, and by this fellow"
Mr.. Levy put his finger on the figure
In the photograph. on the far left, then
he changed il 10 the figure in the back
ground on the left
"And that chap was my scout, SAID me-
81 had employed him before when | was
I'm South Africa. and ne tod me or TINS
wonderful lump OF earth which a fellow
tribesman OF his had buried. IL was In
Christlana, up north or Kimberly.
had gone there by ox-wagon with my
brother and three other white men. We
had about thirty boys-kaffirs and Zulus.
that tx. they're always called boys-with
the party. The kaffr who had the dia-
mOnds Was to meet my scout and COM
pletc the deal, the price having already
been set and accepted. None OF US whites
figured Ia the TRANSACTION az principals