Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-07-01
SOUTH AFRICAN DIAMOND FIELDS

upon with more or less wonder by many
historians, that almost all of the great
discoveries have been made by accident.
Men and communities have spent their
entire lives in efforts along certain lines,
only to find. when the close of their So
journ was drawing near. that their time
had apparently been wasted. And per-
hapS at the very period at which despair
is Selling upon them they have come
across, quite unintentionally, a substance
or idea for which mankind has never
ceased to thank them.
The history of the discovery of the first
diamond in South Africa is quite as inter-
esting as that of the find of gold in Cali
fornia. Like most great discoveries it
was quite an accident. In March, 1867,
Mr.. John O'Reilly, a trade and a hunter,
after a hunting trip was returning to
Cape Town. He had pursued game on
the far side of the Vaal river, n having
on his homeward journey reached the
district now known as Hopetown, to the
south of Orange river, he prepared to
pass the night at the farm house of a
Boer, whose name was Schalk a Me
kark. In the course of the evening the
farmers children fell to s~quabbling over
some very pretty looking stones they had
found, and which, on account of the CLINT
and glimmer of them, the farmer had
placed as on his spare table.
O'Reilly'S attention was in this way at
tracted to the stones, and he examined
them carefully. Like Marshall with his
first grains of California gold, O'Reilly
could not quite make UP his mind what
the stones were, but that they certainly
We're unusual and beautiful he knew. 1t
occurred to him that they might be OF
some value, so he asked permission of
Van Niekark to take one with him. This
was readily given, and the fortunate
hunter pocketed one that appeared to
him the best.
At Colesburg there lived Acting Civil
Commissioner Lorenzo Boyes. and, as
O'Reilly was passing through, he took
his stone to the commissioner to find out
what it was. Mr.. Boyes was not sure,
several Jewish experts were called in
who unh~esitatingly said it was nothing
more or less han OpaZ a quite worthless
stone. and O'Reilly thought of throwing
it away. But Mr.. Boyes was not so GER
tain of the WOrthlesSneSs of the flashing
stone. He suggested that it better be
sent to a DR.. Atherstone at GERMANTOWN,
who would be able to say definitely
whether it was of value or not. O'Reilly
| agreed, and DR.. Atherstone's reply was in
the following words: Il congratulate you
in the stone you have sent me. 1t is verit-
able diamond, weighs PIX carats. and is
worth $500. 1t has spoilt all the jewelers.
files in GERMANTOWN, and where that
came from there must be lots more" Sir
| IulllD OueIOuSe, the SONeIlOT I cape
! Town, when he heard of the find sent for
the stone, had it valued by DR.. Ather-
stone and the French consul, M. Her.
riette, paid the price they named and
sent the jewel to the Paris exhibition of
1867. A splendid advertisement for South
Africa this amo proved to be, too.
The news of the find became noised
abroad, but there was no stampede for
the district such as took place for the
Californian and Australian gold fields.
Having had his attention so wildly
called to the matter Mr.. Boyes obtained
leave of absence to visit Schalk van Me
kark's farm. The place was rich in
stones bright and sparkling, but never
another diamond could he find among
them all. O'Reilly had picked out the
one and only gem. Boyes returned deep
ly disappointed, and the matter was
dropped.
Half a year passed, and then another
lucky individual stumbled across a fine
diamond some little distance below where
the waters of the Orange and Vaal rivers
c~ommingle. This warmed up the wan
ing interest. Again Mr.. Boyes hied HIM
self to the district. again he carefully
prospected the ground, and again was
under the necessity of returning without
having found the deposit from which
these two stones had wandered. But the
blacks had their attention attracted, and
drifting in from the country they occa-
sionally came with a genuine diamond
s~ecreted for safety in their clothing.
Further search was made by white men
and still no find. This was something
tantalizing. The diamonds must come
from somewhere, folk argued. 1t was
not at all likely that one would be found
lying alone here and one there without
there being a deposit of them in the vi
entity. An expert from England arrived
upon the scene and viewed the landscape
over. He looked upon these promiscuous
finds with grave suspicion. and finally
came to the conclusion that the whole x-
element was merely a bait to lure ad-
venturous souls into the district and so
promote other industries. His impress
sion was that the stones found had been
brought there from afar, perhaps by