The San Francisco call., 1909-03-21

needle in hay stack-most Of the men
employed in the mine have never so
much as seen a diamond. for only the
operators are allowed near the ma
chinery when the final recovery is made.
There was one stone however which
did not require a magnifying glass to
see 1T. That was the famous Cullinan
diamond. named after the promoter OF
the Premier mine where it was found.
1t was discovered by the superintend-
ent of the mine one morning less than
10 months after the property was
opened. He was strOlling over the
place and. looking up, noticed some
thing in the side wall. not far beneath
the surface of the ground. Scrambling
up the face he saw what appeared to
be a fairly large diamond about the
size of a copper cent imbedded In the
hard ground. Taking out his pocket
knife he commenced scraping around IT
to get IT out The more he scraped the
larger IL grew. until when he finally
extracted it he found that he held in
his hand what proved to be the largest
stone that has ever been discovered
anywhere. 1t is of the most perfect
water, as clear as crystal and without a
blemish. 1t weighed over 5000 carats,
was priceless in value and was finally
presented by the people OF the Trans
vaal TO King Edward. who has recently
pieces
polished In Amsterdam. The separate
gems will eventually adOrn the royal
regaIia OF the English king.
The diamonds in mass are not very
striking looking objects as they como
from the sorters' hands after being sep
arated from the grease. They look like
a lot Of dull. dirty bits of glass, many
OF them greatly discolored. They range
in size from those smaller than a tiny
pin head to some as large as children's
marbles. Many have flaws, some have
moss like streaks through them. others
are cracked. while great many ara
or color.
They look far more beautiful after
they have passed through the valuer's
hands In Johannesburg. There they
are thoroughly cleaned and sorted In
little piles. according to their color,
size and brtlliancy. To see 100000
carats OF these laid out on q long.
snowwhite table. as have done n In
deed an interesting sight Included
In the lot was one pure white stone
weighing ESQ carats. and valued &C
$4,000 before being cut Most of the
cutting has. until very recently. been
done IN Holland. bur for the last few
years the industry has made Rraak
strides In America, where the polish
ers have become so skillful that they
bid fair TO oust the Dutchrnzn entire
Joyed for many ages past Ths cut
ting and polishing reduces the weight
OF the stone from a half to a third Of
its original weight. but the cost OF the
work Is not nearly as great as most
people imagine. It runs about IS
carat. based on the weight OF the
rough stone One naturally expectS
that the loss from theft In such nino
as this. with it's thousands Of ernplovas
would be very heavy. but the nnost
careful provision Is made against such
loss All the negroes employed are re-
quired to sign a contract to renal,
at work for three. six or nine months
and a. government official always ex
plains TO them fully that during tba
term OF their. contract they will rot
be allowed to feave the property under
any circumstances Great, comfortabla
compounds are provided for their sbaI-
ter, and the whole property Is fnclossd
In triple fence OF barbed wire. which
Is closely guarded Previous to the sx-
piration of their contracts the negroes
are kept In a house Of detention fo-
few days. so that any stones which
they may have swallowed are recOrs
cred. After leaving this they are nro-
vfded with new clothes from the con-
panys stores and escorted directlv o,,t
side the barricade. The negroes -
very contented with their lot. ana
many OF them return The white aro~
ployes can not be treated In this No,
ner, OF course, but are kept under sl1r-
veillance. and II their expenditures ar
greater than their salaries would w.
rant the source of their additional A.
come is closely looked into. Moreov.,
the law regarding any one found wftb
rouSn diamond on his person withouf
government certificate therefor is
very severe and Is rigidly enforced.