The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-20
SOUTH AFRICA'S DIAMONDS.
OF LUCK RELATED BY
A FORMER DIGGER.

the Illicit Diamond buyers.
From the New York Sun.
The first diamond discovered in South
Africa" said Henry A. Kratsch, who spent
several years in the diamond fields was
purchased in 1867 by a trader, an Irishman
by birth, named John O'Reily While re-
turning from the interior with his cattle
he stayed for a few days. in order to re
cuperate. at a large farm on the banks of
the Orange river owned by a Boor famed
Schalk van Niekerk. peculiar stone had
been picked up some time previously by a
Bushman boy. ORenly bought il for a
trifle out of curiosity, not knowing him
self what il was and took ii with him TO
a town called Colesberg and handed il 10
the resident civil commissioner who in
turn forwarded il TO Dr. Atherstone in
Graham's Town, Cape Colony. This gen
tleman, after careful examination, pro-
nounced ii a Veritab,e diamond 21A Carats
in weight and worth $3.50. 1t was eubse-
quently purchased for this price by the
governor of the colony, Sir p. Wodehouse.
When the find became known a search for
diamonds was instituted throughout the
Hope Town district, but il was NOT until
1869 that the existence of diamonds in pay
ing quantities was proved beyond a doubt
Then a great rush of diegers from all
parts of the globe was made TO the Orange
river and its vicinity. II is a curious fact
that, though the earliest finds were made
in the Hope Town district no mine was
discovered there In the latter part of
1870 a lot of miners who had gained val
liable experience in California and Austria
liza discovered mine about 900 miles due
north of Hope Town, nearly 1000 miles
from Cape Town, which they named after
the then British colonial secretary the
Earl of Kimberley. AT The beginning of
1871 10000 men had found their way to this
spot The extensive farm on which the
Kimberley mine and town are situated
was the property of one Van Wyck, from
whom it was purchased for about $25 900.
The actual diamond mine is hole OF
twenty-five or thirty acres. The mining
was so-called gravel digging until 1878,
when the hard rock was reached at the
depth of 30 feet from the surface There
were then about 800 claims on which IL
censes were paid. The yield of diamonds
from this big excavation since the opening
of the mine in 1871 probably exceeds eight
tons weight of precious stones, IN value
about S240, 100000 After years of progress
all the individual small c4iggers and claim
holders sold out to a gigantic syndicate OF
which the late Barney Barnato and Cecil
Rhodes were the promoters. This com
pany employs al present about LOO white
men and about 1900 KafIirs, and its ex-
penditures for labor, material etc, are not
less than $12,OOOO0O annually The finest
diamonds ever found In South Africa was
the famous Porter Rhodes, discovered in
claim, No 375, near the center
of Kimberley mine, on Feb
IL, 1880. 1t is pure white octa-
hebron, weighing $50 carats and valued at
$780, 900. A splendid yellow octahedron
was found on March r. 1884, at the east
end of the mine. It weighed 302 carats.
The largest diamond ever found in this
mine was discovered near the west end of
the mine on Sept. 20, 1885. II was a large
irregular octahedron, slightly spotted, of
yellow color, and weighed 404 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 prob
ably the largest diamond the world has yet
produced, excepting a very imperfect stone
of some 500 carats found in Jagersfonstein,
Orange Free state, in 1881.
about twenty miles to the westward of
Kimberley the Vaal river is met. Dia-
mond mining is in active progress on its
banks. These mines are generally termed
the poor mans diggings, because any man
off an unoccupied claim 4Ox40, pay his
monthly license fee of $3.50 to the govern
ment mining commissioner and go to work
The only mining implements necessary for
his undertaking are a pick and shovel, a
large gravel sieve and smaller hand
sieve, two tubs, generally obtained by saw
ing an ale barrel in half, and a provisional
table to sort on, as well as a large pail In
order to carry the water for washing the
rule one of these prospectors, according TO
his means hires two or three Kaffir labor
ers at about IS a week and keep, the ra-
lions being regulated by law. These men
perform the more laborious work in the
sun, the prospector generally limiting him
self to the actual washing and sorting The
digging is purely surface, as at depth of
about two feet a solid rock is met. / have
known instances during my sojOurn there
where men have expended their last cent
and savings probably ranging from $500 TO
$1,CC0, enduring all kinds of hard ships and
never found anything.
ION the other hand, I have also met
men who. after few weeks work, found
stones 10 the value of $4,000. I can recall
one instance where a man whom / per
sonally knew had accumulated about 50 600.
He took chances and went to the river 10
try his luck He employed several natives
and took out a license for three claims.
He worked increasingly for about two
months, without finding a single stone.
Then he abandoned his claims and return
ell broke 10 Kimberley. A week or two
after his departure a Scotchman named
Cameron staked off one claim in the cen
ter of where the former three had been,
hired one Kaffir and started to work. on
the fourth day when he was washing up,
he found a pure white octahedron of l471z
carats, which he sold to a visiting broker
on the spot for $4,000 cash. The largest
diamond found on the Vaal river surface
diggings, known as the Spalding or Stew
art diamond was discovered In 1872. 1t
weighed 2S8 carats and was valued then
at $4,000. 1t has been cut and weighs
now 12S carats. These diamonds found on
the banks OF the river are of a decidedly
superior quality TO the Kimberley mine
diamonds being generally perfectly white.
All commodities OF life here are very eX-
pensive, owing to the great difficulty of
transportation. / nave often paid 81 for
a can Of condensed milR, 60 cents for
loaf of bread, 50 cents for a small tin of
sardines % cents for a pound of sugar,
and 70 cents for an ordinary glass of Irish