Evening journal., 1899-12-29
WORLDS GREAT
DIAMOND FIELDS
}.sfU xtis ----
They Are at Kimberley and
Are the Largest and Most
Valuable Known.
HOW THE GEMS ARE SECURED
vAsTNEss OF THE PRECIOUS
STONE PITS AROUND WHICH
THE TRANsyAAL WAR IS RAG
ING.

Diamonds are playthings for the
rich, merchandise for the ieweler and
implements of mechanical service in
certain kinds OF labor. The greatest
known diamond deposit in the world is
at Kimberley, South Africa. This city,
which has a vast well Of clay-like earth
that Is rich with diamonds In the
rough, as now In q state of siege. A
Boer army surrounds It and inside OF
the circle of earthworks, soldiers and
cannons that have been placed for its
protection the citizens live in fear Of
bursting shells and lack of food.
Diamonds have been called precious
so long that there is no record where
or how they first became sought after
as jewels Writers who lived centuries
before the birth OF Christ tell OF them
as exceeding in value all human things.
Then they were known by the Greeks
as 'adamas" (the unsubduable), and
they We're believed by the credulous to
be gifted with mysterious powers; this
was probably owing to their ability to
resist heat and TO their hardness.
FIRST TRANSVAAL DIAMOND.
Up to the beginning OF the present
century nearly all diamonds came from
India. Then great numbers were found
in Brazil, but not until after the dis
coyery OF diamonds in South Africa, in
1867. were the stones found in great
quantities. That year Dutch farmer,
who lived near what are now known
as the great diamond fields, got from
a native a bright stone that his chill
dren We're using as a plaything. The
stone was sent to Cape Town and was
there recognized as O diamond OF ex-
ceptional value. Il was forwarded to
the Paris Exposition and there sold for
$4,000. From that time on the dia-
mond fever swept through South At
RIGA. Two years later a beautiful
stone was found which weighed eighty
three carats. II was called the Star of
South Africa" and sold for $4,000. Up
10 this time the diamonds had been
found in the sand near the Orange and
Naal rivers. In 1870. however, 1t was
suddenly reported that great pockets OF
earth filled with diamonds had been
found on a plateau north of the Orange
river. The diamond hunters flocked to
the new fields and found that in that
region OF the plateau, under its layer
OF red sand, were great pipes" or tun-
nels through which at some ancient
time. boiling lava flowed from the
heart OF the earth. These pipes were
filled with hard and blush deposit
tcalled blue ground') that evidently
had been forced to the surface by vol
cania action and from great depth
In other words, these pipes were era
ters Of extinct volcanoes.
THE GEM PITS.
The vast diamond pits OF Kimberley
are in the largest and most valuable o.
the craters. The larger of these pits II
probably the greatest hole ever dug b,
man. IL is 500 feet deep and has an
area OF thirteen acres. Numbers of di
agonal shafts lead from the surface {,
the bottom Of the pit, and up and dow
these shafts are passing continual,
tram-cars. The business of these car
is TO carry the blue ground up to tn
floors" where Il Is dumped and left t
soften in the sun and rain, for the blu
ground is almost as hard as sandston
when taken out. BY the combined ef
feet OF water and sunlight it graduall
softens.
The floors are nothing more tha-
great tracts of land that have bee
cleared of vegetation and have bee
then rolled to make them as hard an
smooth as possible. Each OF thes
floors is GOO acres in extent. After on
Of them has been covered to a depth {
foot with blue ground. which has lai
long enough to be fairly soft, native
with harrows are set to work breakin
up the soil.
WASHING GEMS.
After period Of three to six montf
the blue ground Is soft enough to I
ready for Washing" Then II is carte
to very intricate washing machin
where il Is tumbled around in runnin
water until nothing is left but crust
little chunks and pebbles. In the crusi
chunks are the diamonds. These al
passed through sieves that separa
them into four sizes.
Next the crusty fragments are pass
TO the "assorters" and piled on table
where white men assert them, takir
the diamonds from among the 9th,
mineral formations. The assorte
work with trowel-like instruments, al
are so expert that they at a glance c.
PICK out chunk of earth that holds
-. -. n-.-u----unrr
III