Evening star., 1935-05-19

M mond, the 726-carat stone
VI found by native on the
L Elandsfontein claim Of the
Jonker farm in South Africa,
has been bought from the London
Diamond Syndicate by an American
dealer has finally convinced the dia-
mond folk that their long Winter has
ended.
Since 1885 opened they have been
peering out of the igloos to which
they betook themselves when the
great slump began CLOSING down their
mines and caching their stocks OF
stones as usuaD, and on the dark
horizon they had seen white flashes
and the familiar play OF prismatic
colors. Yes, no mistake about it
after four years diamonds are in de-
mand again.
The Jonker sale is said to be a
$3.50, 900 deal. The stone is yet to be
cut, and the largest Of the pieces will
probably not exceed 200 to $50 carats.
The two biggest stones cut from the
giant 3,000-carat Cullian were only
5161a and 3O9 3-16 carats. respectively,
making them easily the worlds largest
diamonds. The 277-carat Nizam stone
is third on the list.
But this is only the largest single
transaction that has occurred during
the first quarter of 1885. In that
period more than 100000 worth of
fine diamonds have been sold in the
London market. Indian princes and
merchant bankers have been turning
into diamonds the huge profits made
by the sale, at l20 to las shilings an
ounce, of boarded gold bought orig
inally at 80 to IS shillings an ounce.
The diamond syndicate beams as it
sees its cache of stones diminish in
the London safes.
Sales Show Increase.
Men are climbing down again to the
big Kimberley pits, preparing to re-
sumo extraction of the diamentiferous
rock in which diamonds are embedded
like currants in cake. Washing has
just begun of the 100000 loads Of
blue ground which has been lying un-
touched these last three years on the
great earth floors" De Beers Con-
solidated reported in March a 1884
income from diamonds Of s4,50l, ,6l5,
against trifiing 81 ,487, $50 in 1888.
Spring, indeed, has come.
1t is synthetic Spring. Men made
it. Back of it lies a tale of dreams
and schemes, tale Of Imperialism,
ambition, intrigue, money and blood
the sanguinary tale of the struggle
for control of the diamond pocket
found by the white man on Chief
Waterboer'S tribal lands north Of the
Orange River in South Africa. This
story is more enthralling in its way
than the bizarre tales which have
entwined themselves around such dia-
monds as the Lion of Lahore, the
Koh-i-noor, the Hope Diamond and
the sinister Golconda-scraps of car
bon which seem to have absorbed the
essence of human lust for wealth and
power.
It was one day in 1867 that
Dutch farmer, Van Niekerk, visiting
a friend by the Orange River, was
struck by the astonishing brilliance
of one Of the stones the children
were playing marbles with. He
thought it might be of value, passed
~ O14 w q u oSC1, VIII oCl1I ~ W tIAC
Cape mineralogist. "a diamond,
worth $2,500," was the experts YER
dict. The Cape governor bought the
stone at that price.
Charm" Brings $125,00O.
Two years passed; then a witch
doctor brought Van Niekerk another
large, brilliant stone-he had been
using it as charm. The Dutchman
gave the native several head of cattle
for it, and himself found a trader who
gave him $55,000 for what proved to
be an 83-carat diamond. The trader
in his turn made pretty good bar
gain, for he sold the stone to the
wealthy Lord Dudley for $125,000.
Diamonds were rarer then than they
are now.
This second discovery started the
rush to the Orange River and the
Vaal. In a few months 10000 pros
pectorS were camping along the river
banks, sinking pits in the heavy gravel
of the big bend. sitting the river bed
soil in hand cradles. But they were
working the wrong spot. In the Au-
tumn Of 1870 diamonds were found on
the Dutoitspan farm, on the open
veldt, 20 miles away. Gamblers
rushed to buy up all the farms around.
Thousands of prospectors then rushed
the new farm owners, who, unable to
hold their property, made the best Of
bad job by letting 30-foot square
claims to diggers at $3.50 a month.
Into this melee came the man
destined to bring order out of chaos
and win an empire of diamonds in
the process-subsequently using the
wealth derived therefrom to further
his vision Of British African empire
stretching from the Cape to Cairo.
He did not impress men on arrival
as one destined to wear a crown; q
shy, lanky, 18-year-old youth, an
English parsons son who had been
sent out for health reasons to q cot
ton farm in the Umkomanz Valley.
Finding no money in it, he had trekked
to the diamond diggings, months
journey by OK cart. His name was
Cecil Rhodes.
Those were great days. At crack
OF dawn 10000 human beings, whites
and hired blacks, crowded on a piece
of ground 180 yards by 220 yards,
and started to dig. A seven-foot road
way, daily growing more precarious as
the pits deepened, was the only divi-
sion between claim and claim; and
some claims were divided into quar-.
ters, and even into eighths.
Rhodes described the diamantifer-