The record-union., 1896-04-16
DIAMOND HUNTING.
The Negro Diggers Of the South Africa
Diamond Syndicate.
Undergo a Physical Examination Every
Day and Their Clothes Inspected
Under Microscope.

Kimberley, South Africa, is the center
of the worlds greatest diamond -produc-
| ing region. In the country roundabout
| you will see thousands of black skinned
ma tives searching in mother earth and
along the river beds for the precious
| brilliants. They have foresworn the
spear and the bow of savagery for the
| hunt of the white mans sparkling gems.
Their unerring eye locates the shining
| beauties where they lay imbedded in the
soil. They handle in a year, all Of them,
thousands of diamonds, any one OF
| which would make them rich for life
| They steal, these African jewel-find-
ers, and practice all their native cum
| ming to secrete the gems and make off
with them. A rich jewel has even been
| found il a mans ear, hidden out of
sight. They have been known to hide
| them in their thick locks, to hide them
tween the toes. They have acquired the
white mans passion for the cleaning
stones.
| In the soft, alluvial soil of the River
Vaal, which rushes down from the
| mountains of Draken, in South Africa,
| the diamond hunters are at work.
! Wherever the earth has a structure that
quite confounds the biologists, there the
| jewels are found IN the greatest abun-
dance.
| Whence the radiant diamond of At
| rica comes before it reaches the River
Vaal has not yet been determined.
Tracing the stream to it's sources hum
dreds Of purling streams are found that
| drip down the steep declivities and
gather in a lake below. Filled to over
| flowing, this lake surges over its ragged
| barriers, and descends with a deafening
| roar into the valley below. With the
| fall of sparkling water deScendS the
| brut diamant-the diamond in the
| rough, and with it come fragments of
every kind of stone. Perhaps the gems
| have their origin in the mountains Of
| Draken, perhaps in the mysterious and
lseemingly never-ending promontories to
| the north.
THE DIAMOND SYNDICATE.
While the wild and expectant eyes of
| the negro are ever intent upon the
murky waters of the Vaal, there are
other eyes, no less attentive which note
| every movement Of the savages. These
! eyes belong to the owners of the terri
| tory or their agents, for the natives
are mere employees, who work for so
much per week. There is in London a
| corporation known as the London
| Rough Diamond Syndicate. They con-
| troll the diamond country and the black
skinned workers are their employees.
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
| it's present position. Now deep mines
are sunk under the former bed and men,
some of whom will never again see the
| light of day, are noiselessly working
| almost a thousand feet below the sur
| face.
| The gems now found in the river are
small, and those found nearest the sur
| face are inferior in size to those found
| at a greater depth-which argues that
| crystallization becomes more perfect
with the lapse of time, and perhaps is
| favorably affected 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 opera
| ton is invested in the mines.
| OF these the most prominent are the
Kimberley, situated 720 miles from Cape
Town. The altitude is over 5000 feet
above the sea level. The situation of the
mines, relative to the Vaal, is north.
They are in the province Of Grigualand,
which in 1871 was declared English ter
ritory.
WHERE THE GEMS LAY.
In the old times, when the twenty
two-carat diamond created such SEN
| sation at the International Exposition
| of Paris, Hollanders were in possession
| of the land now occupied by the Kim
berley mines. The place was known as
Dutoit's farm originally, but at the
| time of the eventful discovery it passed