Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-12-17
CUlllNAN DIAMOND.
Story Denied That Other Half of Gem
Is Owned by kaffirs.

Story Denied That Other Half of Gem
Is Owned by kaffirs.
1t is reported in African papers that
nan was a portion has been found in
the possession Of the Kaffirs of the
Magatos tribe in Zoutpansberg. The
dimensions Of this second Cullinan
stone have been given as 1928 carats.
This story has been denied by the
Transvaal Department Of Mines, and
an officer Of the treasury Of Pretoria
states that the original Of the legend
can undoubtedly be traced to the be-
lief that enormous quantities Of dia-
monds were buried by command Of the
celebrated chieftain's wife Majatje
during the Boer war. These dia-
monds became the spoils Of the
Kaffirs when they returned to Kim
berley. But these treasures are lost,
for the Kaftils who buried them ire
dead and search for them has bean
without result.
The possibility Of finding still larger
stones than the Cullinan in the SOL
of South Africa is, however, by no
means remote. G. A. Molensraff,
professor Of mineralogy in the Tech
nical High School at Delft, recently
stated the; the Cullinan Is only poi
ton of a much larger stone, the orig
inal form Of which can only approx
mately be indicated. Four pieces m LIT
have been broken off from the original
stone by natural crystal cleavage,
which Is evident from the cleavage
planes. Each of these. pieces must
have beeh Of considerable size. Ac-
cordingly the natural end plane.
(called milf" in the language Of the
diamond workers) are only partly
shown in the Cullinan. Most Of the
cry.tal planes are cleavage planes.
The original portion Of the surface
shows only a single octahedral face;
1t also has an irregular curved front
surface bearing some resemblance t,
the six faces of a dodecahedron, and
a very irregularly formed cubical
(hexadedral) surface, In which the
quadrangular impression can be recog-
nized.
These quadrangular impressions
are characteristic Of minerals, such
as diamonds, which occur in the
octahedral form. The Cullinan con-
sists Of single crystal; there are no
traces Of either Of twin crystal OK
of a twin lamellae; 1t Is completely
transparent and colorless. Its trans
parency can be best compared with
that of very pure ice, or with the COM
plete clearness Of the variety Of opal
known in the mineral kingdom as
hyalite principally consisting of
silicic acid). 1t is true that the Gull
linan contains few impurities in the
shape Of enclosed grains, also some
internal cleavages Of fragmentary
character, called "glessen" in the
Dutch diamond trade, but their situa
ton Is such that they do not injure
the value of the stone as Jewel. In
any case the Cullinan Is the purest Of
all large precious stones hitherto
found
The question now arises whether
there is a possibility of finding the
pieces broken off by crystal cleavage.
That they can be found is certain, but
1t is impossible to predict whether
they are now in diamond mines or
elsewhere. The diamond is formed,
as is known, at great depth by the de-
composition Of carbon, dissolved in
the molten, basic plutonic magma Of
the earth. (The so-called "blue-
earth" is formed at later period
from this rock.) The carbon was then
under enormous pressure and, at the
very high temperature prevailing at
these depths, deposited from the mol
ten rock in the form Of diamonds.
During the volcanic discharges Of the
masses Of rock the diamond was
forced upward with tremendous force,
and the very great friction to which
the mass was exposed during its pass
age through the crater shaft caused
the cleavage of the stone according to
which we have referred. 1t Is there
fore not impossible that the broken
off fragments of the Cullinan are
scattered over a wide space, and that
they may one day be found on the
surface Of the earth, but 1t is just
as possible that they are still repos-
ing in the depths of the mines. Sir
William Crookes has also lately ex-
pressed the opinion that the Cullinan
is the smaller portion Of an octahe-
dron broken by crystal cleavage
Scientific American