The Washington weekly post., 1899-10-10
KIMBERLEY DIAMONDS
Perhaps s1OO,OOO,0Oo Worth
of Gems Stored There.
00M PAUL'S GREAT OPPORTUNITY

May Reach Out Hand and Gather Is
Carloads of Precious Stones suficieni
TO Fight the British to a siandstiii, Pro.
vided He Can End Market for Them
Facts About the Pure Carbon Deposit,
and the Way They Are Worked.
III Dom Paul decides to take the initiative
IN the approaching conflict, 1t Is probable
that his first act win be to cross the bor-
der TO Kimberley, and seize the enormous
STOCK of gems kept there by the British
company which owns the diamond mines
lhe latter being defended only by a single
! regiment OF militia, this move will be at
tended by no difficulty, and the govern
ment OF the Transvaal will find itself
provided with a commodity readily ex-
changeaole for vast sum in ready money
10 serve as sineSs of war Like David of
oId 1t will fight the giant foe with stones.
NOBODY knows just how much value in
| the shape Of diamonds is kent in store AT
, Kimberley, but it is certainly gigantic.
/ quite possibly it is slO0e00,0oO worth. The
| company has offices in London, but its
| headquarters are in the South African
! city. and there, in a building resembling
| bank, the bulk Of the gems is kent
| stored away in vaults. II only a fraction
| OF them were offered for sale at once. the
! price OF diamonds would promptly tumble;
! Dut the great corporation. owning as II
| does deposits which produce ss per cent.
! OF the worlds entire yield Of these Gre
/ clous stones, is able to control the mar
ket absolutely, and holds back a large
part or its output, disposing Of only
limited number of carats per annum.
Inc Yield OF the mines is about $500
carats every twenty-four hours. and the
diamonds obtained from the diggings are
sent daily, under an armed escort. 10 the
coInpanyS headquarters, and there deliv-
cred to the appraisers in charge. First
they are cleaned by boiling them in
mixture OF nitric and sulphuric acids. and
then they are carefully sorted in respect
u size, color. and purity. In one room
are kept on exhibition $1,000 carats. and
as may be imagined, the spectacle they
ahord is most striking Beneath large
windows runs a broad counter covered
with sheets of white paper. upon which
are laid out ever so manv gIistaning
heaps of diamonds Of indescribabIe va
riety. They are OF all shades, from deem
yeIlow to blue white, from deep brown To
light brown. and in a great variety of
blues. greens, and pinks.
Great Diamond Trust.
only a dozen years ago the Kimberley
mines were worked as over 5000 separate
claims, each thirty-one feet square. and
separated from each other by narrow
roads for hauling the gem bearing earth
In 1898, however, Cecil Rhodes brought
ABOUT consolidation of all these proper
ties into single corporation. which now
practically mOnOpolizes the diamond pro-
duction of the world, with a capital of
$iS5oO,0OO Two of the mines, the Du
Ioits Pan and the De Beers, are the
largest holes ever sunk in the earth. the |
mouth or the former being nineteen acres |
III extent while the latter has a yawn Of |
thirty-hve acres They are lighted by |
electricity, and the machinery used is of |
the most ingenious and powerful descrip- |
ton
From the central shaft Of each mine
runs a system of galleries. at vari- |
Gus levels. like so many burrows
in which laborers dig out the |
diamond-bearing earth and load it upon |
hand-cars. the latter being hauled to the |
surface with the help of machinery This
eafth Is a blush clay and as fast as II
Is brought TO the light of day, it is spread |
out over the ground. Being left thus for
some weeks, though hard and tough at
nfst, IL becomes friable and crumbly |
through exposure to sun and moisture.
and the process is helped by going over
1t again and again with harrows. When
at length it has reached a satisfactory
condition. ii is loaded into hand-cars and
taken TO the huge washing machines. in
which, by means of running water the
precious stones are separated from the
bulk OF the raw material The machines
are great watts, containing centrifugal
wheels, by which, as they rapidly revolye.
the material is pulverized, the lighter
stuff being fioated off, while the diamonds
and other heavy particles are concen-
trated at the bottom.
Digging Out the Diamonds.
The concentrate, when removed from
the washing machines, is placed in
moist sobs on tables, where it is
sorted while wet by white men and
again after 1t is dry by Kaffirs. |
The sOrters work with small trow-
els, and not diamond the size of a
pln-head escapes their notice Indeed |
there is no great difficulty involved in
his task, fnasDluch as such gems in their
natural state are by no means the dull
pebbles they are commonly described as
being. On the contrary, though not so
brilliant as when cut by the skilled laDi- !
iaTy, they are very bright and sparkling. |
indeed After being conveyed to the !
headquarters, they are valued
ana sold in parcels to local buyers. who | {
'epresent the leading diamond merchants l
II Europe. Ihe size Of a parcel varies
rom Few thousand carats up; in one
Instance. few years ago, nearly $4,000
.arats were disposed of in one lot 10 a 7
Jingle purchaser. The stones are taken l
@ London TO be cut c
Biologists think they know Just how the c
diamonds Of the South African fields were Z
made by nature. The surface layer Of the
arth thereabouts was origina!ly-that is q
o say, ages agO-a CarbOnaceOus shaIe. or. q
other words, kind of rock containing +
large percentage of carbon. AS eyery- | y
'ody knows. carbon ir its pure state Is
he sole material OF the diamond By and Il
y volcanic stun from the bowels of the !,
arth was Vomited up through the shale | u
nd the enormous heat thus generated ! I
aused the carbon in the rock 10 CRYSTAL
re out in the form OF diamonds. So now. s
: result, there is vast body Of blue !
lay, through which gems are scattered -
Ike plums Ia pudding. and so evenly :
re they distributed that 100 tons of the
laterial can be counted on TO yield about v
% carats OF the precious stones. The de- v
osits, apparently. are inexhaustibIe. q
An Accidental Discovery. n
As is usual in such cases, the discovery n
diamonds in South Africa was purely c.
occidental A stranger "trekking' through y
ne country stopped over night at the p.
ouse OF hospitable Dutch farmer, who fr
nowed him as curiOsities some. bright G,
ebbles found by his children, which the s.
-tter used as playthings. The visitor d
lspected that they were diamonds, and. | .,
az man sues'S'ea the idea | re