The San Francisco call., 1904-03-18
4 Bucket Of Diamonds.

4 Bucket of Diamonds.
The tragic sequel to the treasure
seeking expedition in the Transvaal'
furnished by the sentence to death at
johannesburg of Phillipus Swartz, the
organizer Of the expedition, for the
murder of one of his companions,
Stephanus Van Niekerk, has brought to
light a story so strange and romantic
and dealing with such fabulous hid
den wealth, that recalls some of the
South African romances of Rider Hag-
gard. 1t starts appropriately with the
colossus of South Africa, Cecil Rhodes.
In 1890, fresh from the conquest OF
the Matabeles and the acquisition OF
Rhodesia. he received an invitation TO
visit Magato, a renowned and power
ful Kaffir chief, known as the Lion
Of the North" and the uncOnquered
foe of the Beers. Magato wished to
have a pow-wow with the Lion of the
South" as he designated Rhodes, con-
cerning matters in the territory that
had Just been colored red on the Brit
ish map. At the Kaffir chiefs strong
hold. on the top of a high mountain,
the two strong men met. Rhodes being
accompanied by Sir John Wilioughby,
Justice Lang and D. c. de Waal
When they had finished discussing
affairs of state, the willy old Kaffir,
wishing to impress Rhodes and his
companions with his wealth as we'll
as his power, showed him a bucket
filled with diamonds - magnificent
ones. Rhodes was not a man to ex-
press surprise at anything. Once be-
fore he had seen a bucketful of dia-
monds, which played an important
part in the amalgamation of the KIM
berley mines. After examining some
of the stones he made a mental esti-
mate of the value of the contents OF
the bucket as something between $12,-
O0O. 900 and s20,OOO.0OO. Then he
asked the Magato where he got them
The chief answered that they had
been given him as presents from time
to time by his native subjects, who had
worked in the diamond mines. That
meant. of course, that they had beer
stolen and that Rhodes himself, as one
of the largest owners of the mines
had had his pockets picked to the tune
Of j very large fortune.
Rhodes always had a great respect
for men who did things on a large
scale. Besides, in dealing with saw
/ ages. he always exercised diplomacy
Therefore he did not denounce Magatc
as a receiver of stolen goods. He con-
I tented himself with intimating that
their possession might possibly
some future date-get the chief into
trouble. To which Magato replied, il
is said. that it would take more than
all the Transvaal police to get them
from him.
Magato did not swear Rhodes and
the ether spectators to secrecy, and
some things leaked out This led to
| the formation Of several private syndi-
Gates to try to obtain the diamonds
! from the chiefly purchase or other
wise. But all efforts failed. And as
to getting them any other way-Ma-
cato in his mountain stronghold, with
| thousands of Kaffirs ready to fight for
| him, was a very dangerous man on
whom to attempt anything approaching
| burglary or highway robbery. But nc
white man in the Transvaal would ever
| possessed a bucketful of diamonds
which were not locked up in a burglar
proof safe
After a while, among the few who
had heard Of it and failed to get even
a glimpse of the gems for the money
| they had put up, the story of the buck
etful of diamonds was generally re-
garded as a myth, and emissaries OF
4 the syndicate ceased to trouble Ma
cato
Then there came a day when the
! Lion of the North fell sick, and real
lied that the hand of death was upon
him. He hated Mpefu, his nephew
and the heir to the chieftainship. He
had tried to get him set aside in favor
OF one Of his own indunas. Baked in
this. he resolved that he would at least
prevent Mpefu from getting the bucket
of diamonds in his clutches. Summon
| ing four Of his most trusted chiefs
he directed them to divide the dia-
/ monds into four lots, take them fan
away and bury them, and tell no man
| where they had hidden them, under
penalty of being haunted in this world
and tortured in the next. The chiefs
promised to obey, and when the dia-
monds had been parceled out among
them two of them set out for Matabele
Land and the Swo others, according
to the story, trekked toward the Sc
I lati, in which region the remains OF
Van Niekerk were subsequently found
And TO obtain this treasure, or some
portion Of it, Swartz got together the
search party.
With hard times in the Transvaal
the prospect of finding some of Ma
gato's bucketful of diamonds is likely
to start large numbers treasure hunt
ing. And other tragedies are more than
likely to follow.-W Washington Post.