The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-02-04

existence Of diamonds in paying quanti-
Ties was proved beyond a doubt. Then a
great rush of diggers from all parts of the
globe was made &c the Orange river and
it's vicinity. 1t lis curious fact that,
though the earliest finds were made in
the Hope Town district. no mine was dis
covered there. In the latter part of 1870
a lot of miners who lad gained valuable
experience i'll California and Australia
discovered mine about 100 miles due
north of Hope Town, nearly LOCO miles
from Cape Town, which they named after
the then British colonial secretary, the
earl of Kimberly. At the beginning Of
1871 10000 men had found their way to
this srct The extensive farm on which
the Kimberly mine and town are situated
was the property of one Van W;yck, from
whom it was purchased for about $25, 900.
1.-THE actual diamond mine is a hole Of
twenty-five or thirty acres. The mining
was so-Called gravel digging until 1873.
when the hard rock was reached at the
depth of 27O feet from the surface. There
were then about 800 claims on which IL
lenses were Daid.s The yield Of iamondsaa
from this big excavation since, the open
ing of the mine in 1871 probably exceeds
eight tons weight of precious stones, in
value about $24O, 900, 900. After years of
progress all the individual small diggers
and claimholders sold out 20 a gigantic
syndicate of which the late barney Bar
nato and Cecil Rhodes were the promot-
ers. This company employees at present
about LOO white men and about $4,000
Kaffirs, and it's expenditures for labor,
material etc. are not less than S12, 100000
annually. The finest diamond ever found
In South Africa was the famous Porter
Rhodes discovered in claim No. 315, near
the center of Kimberley mine, on Feb
Y, 1880. 1t is pure white octahedron,
weighing $50 carats and valued at $780,
900. A splendid yellow octahedron was
found on March -. 1884, at the east end
of the mine. It weighed 3O2 carats. The
largest diamond ever found in this mine
was discovered near the west end Of the
mine on Sept. 20, 1856. It was a large ir-
yellow color, and weighed 4O4 carats or
nearly three ounces. In the month of
February previous a similar stone OF 1852
carats was found near the east end of
the mine. The former of these stones is
probably the largest diamond the world
has yet produced, excepting very i'm.
perfect stone of some 500 carats found in
Jagersfontein Orange Free State. in 1881.
about twenty miles to the westward
OF Kimberley the Wall river is met
Diamond mining Is in active progress on
Its banks. These mines are generally
termed the poor mans diggings, because
any man with a little capital can go there
and stake off an unoccupied claim 40x4O,
pay his monthly license fee of $3.50 to
the government mining commissioner and
60 to work. The only mining implement
necessary for his undertaking are pick
and shovel. large gravel Sleve and
smaller hand sieve, two tubs, generally
obtained by saving an ale barrel in half,
and a provisional Gable to sort on, as
we'll as a large pail in order to carry
the water f>r washing the sand from
the gravel in the tubs. As rule one of
these p-0spectors, according to his means,
hires two or three Kaffir laborers at about
- a week and keep, the rations being
regulated by law. These men perform the
more laborious work in the sun, the pros
pector generally limiting himself to the
actual washing and sorting. The digging
Is purely surface, as at depth of about
two: feet solid rock is met. I have
where men have expended their last cent
and savings probably ranging from $5OO
to $1,000 endured all kinds of hardships
and never found anything.
con the other hand, / have also met
men who, after few weeks work. found
stones to the value of $4,000. I can re-
caH one instance where a man whom
personally knew had accumulated about
$1,000. He took chances and went to the
river to try his luck. He employed sew
eral natives and took out a license for
three claims. He worked increasingly for
about two months, without even finding
a single stone. Then he abandoned his
claims erd returned broke to Kimberley.
"A week or two after his departure a
Scotchman named Cameron staked off one
claim in the center Of where the former
three had been, hired one Kaff1r and
started to work. On the fourth day when
{he was washing up, he found a pure
white octanedron of 1471a carats, which he
sold to visiting broker on the spot for
$50. 900, cash. The largest diamond found
on the vaal river surface digpinps. known
as the Spalding or Stewart diamond, was
discovered in 1872. It weighed 22S carats
and was valued then at $4,000. It has
been cut and weighs now 1913 carats>
Ihese diamonds found on the banks Of
the river are Of a decidedly superior quail
ity to the Kimberley mine diamonds, be.
ing generally perfectly white. All COM
mod1tles OF life here are very expensive,
owing to the great difficulty Of TRANSPORT
tatlon 4 have often paid 81 for can OF
condensed milk, 60 cents for loaf of
bread. 80 cents for small tin OF sardines.
70 cents for pound Of sugar, and Is
cents for an ordinary glass Of irish or
Scotch whisky. The only food which Is
cheap IS goats meat, which must be con-
sumed within a few hours after slaughter.
owing to the hot African sun and tho
utter absence of ice. This meat can be
purchased as live stock from the con-
stantly travelling Kaf1ir herds for about
cents pound. The climate is fairly
neaithy for Europeans, and especially
neneffcial for pulmonary weaknesses. Fee
male society IS out Of the question N