they being the best hands at picking out the smallest
diamonds. These diamonds are sold to the licensed diamond
buyers in the Kimberley market, and in this way the
companies can immediately realise. I t is said that there
have been thirty or forty million pounds’ worth of diamonds
exported from the Cape during the last fourteen years.
The systems adopted in the working of these craters or
gigantic deposits of blue gravel may have been very effective
heretofore; but now the mines are attaining a depth
that threatens to bring all such methods forcibly to an
end; for the good reason that the shale which forms the
surrounding walls of this basin is beginning to cave, and
will naturally continue to do so until it finds its angle of
repose, and of course it stands to reason that as they go
deeper the area at the bottom will proportionately decrease,
until it has run to nothing.
The hoisting engines in use were inadequate to cope
with the vast volumes of floating reef gradually but surely
coming down the deep abyss. Already there has been
spent jointly by the companies £1,400,000 for the extraction
of the falling reef. I am afraid that the day is not far
distant when many a poor fellow will be prematurely buried
under the inevitable fall of reef that must result from such
an unavoidable mode of mining.
Naturally the question arises, What is to be done in order
that the jewels may be got out remuneratively ? There
were many plans advanced for underground workings; but I
did not find a single man there who understood underground
work as it is carried on in gold and silver mines. In any
case, the days of the present system are numbered. The
people may go on until they are compelled to try another
plan. Of course another system could only be practicable
through the companies amalgamating, each mine being
worked under undivided control. The scarcity of timber
is a great drawback to underground working.
Various restrictions on diamond dealing exist. No one
is allowed to buy a diamond without first obtaining a license,
and only licensed dealers, or brokers, can sell them, although
in spite of the vigilance of the detective department a great
deal of illicit diamond buying is successfully carried o n ;
henCe the well-known symbols “ ID B,” which refers to the
illegal trade. Men coming out of the mine have “ changing
houses,” and they are searched before leaving work. The
latter ordeal, I was told, was one of the grievances of the
white people. They say it is degrading to a white man to
be searched.
The Kaffirs are very good workers. I made a foreman
i white I admit that they were far superior to the men of
his own kind in every particular, and there was no trouble
with them.
“ But you must watch them,” said he.
“ Did you ever see any class of workers, either white or
black, that did not require watching ? ”
I think for the especial class of work the Kaffirs are very
well adapted. I saw many pretty diamonds taken from the
mine. One morning, soon after we had ascended in the
cage, at De Beer’s mine, a cave or slip occurred, burying
three men.
An election excitement bustled the place during my
stay. Kimberley returns three members to the parliament
of the Cape. I spent the evening with a gentleman who
was one of the successful candidates. His wife appeared
to be much elated at her husband’s success in being elevated
to the position of a representative man.
One of the most amusing features of the election was the
candidature of an unsuccessful champion of the “ people’s