Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-11-19

diamond which is owned by Coster, the
diamond cutter. weighs one hundred
and twenty-five karats and is valued
at seven hundred thousand at the very
lowest. This is the most perfectly cut
of any of the diamonds, for its owner,
a professional diamond cutter, could
see no beauty in it until he had faucet
ed its. entire surface and made it glow
like the sun.
THEY ARE IGNORANT.
] thought while we stood there that
IL these men who were working and
sweating over their dirty task could
have the pleasure of seeing these mar
Vicious stones which the guide described
In such q wonderful language, they
might be melted to work harder and to
think their task more pleasing one.
The Dudley pear-shaped diamond, for
instance, is SO brilliant that it is as
serted that its rays can be seen even
in a perfectly dark room This dia-
anond of Brazilian origin was valued
at only on hundred thousand dollars,
although it weighs seventy-six karats,
until the owner one day took 1t in his
hands and demonstrated that in the
darkest room it could be made to send
forth a light The same test was APP
piled to the Orloff, the wonderfully cut
diamond in the scepter of the Russian
Car. The Orloff weighs hundred
and ninety-four karats, and its value
sprang to nearly four millions.
The celebrated French state jewel,
the Pitt. diamond, is valued at three
million five hundred thousand. Its
weight is one hundred and thirty-six
karats. A diamond in the rough is the
Stewart of South Africa, which weighs
now two hundred and lightweight
karats and is valued at several hun
dred thousand. It's shape is SO irregu-
lar that it will cut to great disadvan-
tage; however in the cutting it may
show brilliancy which will increase
its price.
Rising in one of the buckets to the
top, we went over the works where
the wash rooms are located, and there
we saw the humps of earth dumped
into a large hopper which is kept in
constant motion by steam power, and
into which a stream of water is con-
tinually pouring At the lower and
smaller end of this hopper there is an
arrangement of screens about one foot
apart, the one directly under the other.
The top screen is a coarse one, which
retains all the large stones, the others
are finer, until the one at the bottom,
which is SO fine as to collect pebbles
the size Of a pinhead.
The hopper and screen are all under
lock and key, and it is an impossible
ity for any one to abstract particle of
earth or stone from the machine with
out the keys, which are kept in a safe
or the mine owners until the wash-up
day, when the screen boxes are opened
In the presence of the officers of the
claim to which the find" belongs and
ported by an expert The rough dia-
n1onds are weighed and sealed in par
rels and taken to the Office for classif-
ration and valuation.
This entire process is directed and
watched by white men, who get good
wages as watchers or detectives. al
though many of them are unable to
read or write. The penalty for stealing
diamond is twenty years hard labor
on the Cape Town breakwater A Wis
itor cannot buy a stone from even a
licensed dealer without magisterial per-
mission, and every possible precaution
is taken to stop the traffic in stolen
gems.
When Kaffir is seen to pick up
anything in the mine he is searched,
taken to the Office and given a powerful
emetic. The natives work naked, and
are not allowed to touch the earth they
are mining with their hands.
Once week, usually Sunday morn
Ing, the owners or directors of a claim