The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-01-21
SOUTH AFRICA'S DIAMOND
FIELDS,

New Discoveries in German Territory
Some German capitalists Of Bremen,
headed by Senator Achells, have formed
a syndicate to work the diamond fields
that have recently been discovered in
German Southwest Africa. The Ger
man newspapers say that 1t is hoped to
develop another Kimberley In this re-
gi0n and to destroy the monopoly at
present enjoyed by the great De Beers
company. The discovery of diamonds
in German Southwest Africa is quite
recent, and little has been made known
| about this new source of wealth in that
colony except that the fields are situa-
ted among the mountains in the central
part Of the colony. 1t has long been
known that Kimberley could not per-
manently have a monopoly Of the dia
mond trade. At present it supplies
most of the diamonds in the market;
| but there are several other fields in
| South Africa that promise well, though
| little or nothing has yet been done to
develop them.
| Very little has been done to develop
| diamond mining along the banks Of the
| Faal river in South Africa, where the
| diamonds of that country were first
| discovered Mines were opened there,
and they yielded abundantly for two
years, until the marvellous richness of
| the beds at Kimberley was revealed in
1869 The Vaal river Is Of very little
use to the navigators, but 1t has rolled
down in its waters great treasure in di-
Almonds, which led to the discovery of
this great source Of riches. The Boer
| farmers often observed the sparkling
stones, "mool klippe." AS they called
them, along the Vaal river but never
suspected that they We're diamonds.
! A Boer farmer named Schalk van
| Niekerll was calling one day at the
house of a friend and, seeing the chill
dren playing with a pretty stone, ex-
pressed his admiration of it. Their
mother presented it to him. This was
| in 1867. He showed it to a trader
named John O'Reilly, who suspecting
| that it was more valuable than mere
crystal, took it to Cape Town for ex-
| animation. The stone was pronounced
| to be a diamond, and it was sold to the
governor of Cape Colony Sir Philip
! WOdehOuse, for twenty-five hundred
dollars, 1t was two years later that
| the famous Star of South Africa. now
| in the possession of the Couitess of
| Dudley, was obtained from Kaffir sor-
cerer, who had used it as one of his
| adornments. This stone weighed uncut
| eightythree carats and sold for fifty
| five thousand dollars.
Far north of the Vaal diver along the
banks Of the Limpopo or Crocodile riv-
er, the boundary between the Transvaal
| colony and Mashonaland, diamonds
| have been found, though nothing what
ever as yet has been done to exploit
this field. For all that is known, the
region along this river is as rich in dia-
monds as the Vaal. Diamonds have
| also been found among the mountains
of the Transvaal, also at two points in
! Cape Colony at Dutoltspan, only two
miles to the southeast OF Kimbedley.
and at Buttfontein. These diggings are
! less than a quarter of a mile apart.
Two diamond centers have also been
| discovered in the western part of the
Orange River Colony, one of which, ia
gers FOntein, eighty miles from kim
berley, has yielded about two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars year, in