Through the Kalahari Desert. G.A. Farini
First Diamond.
so, but I intend then to take Kimberley and the Kalahari per steamer to London. Just you bring your camera out, and ‘take the town/ and to-morrow we will go and get a look at the bowels of the earth, and you shall ‘take’ them too.”
I knew Lulu’s weakness for photographing anything, from the moon to a monkey, would soon make him forget all his troubles: and half an hour afterwards he had secured several “plates,” from one of which the accompanying view of Kimberley is taken.
Next day. Dr. Saner introduced us to Mr. Steib, the manager of the French Diamond Mining Company, who took us to the mining board, introduced us to the secretary and all the members, and procured for us a pass to go over any part of the mine and take photo- graphs of it.
I should, perhaps, here explain that what is called the “Kimberley Mine” is owned principally by three companies—the Central, the French, and the Standard —which have bought up nearly the whole of the small “claims” into which the mine was divided when the first rush” of diamond diggers took place thither in 1872.
The story of the first diamond having been picked up by a Boer on the banks of the Orange River, and of its having been a child’s plaything for years before its value was recognized, is well known. This led to further search being made, and numbers of stones were picked up in the sand and gravel of the banks and bed of the Orange, and afterwards of the Vaal River, where there are still many diggers working the alluvial deposits. Gradually, however, diamonds were found in dry gravel patches at some distance
VIEW OF KIMBERLEY Page 18
Discovery of the Mine.
from the river: first at Du Toit’s Pan, afterwards at Bultfontein, then at De Beer’s Farm, and lastly at a place about a mile distant from De Beer’s, called Colesburg Koppje—so named by two young men coming from Colesburg, who first discovered diamonds there.
“Colesburg Koppje” was originally, to outward ap- pearance, a layer of pebbles and sand, among which the gems lay scattered; but all this gravelly deposit has been removed, and a huge crater, 350 feet deep, and oval, or nearly round, has been excavated, whose sloping sides are covered with broken wires and other debris.
Colesburg Koppje soon became known as New Rush,” and it was not till 1878 that the more dignified name of Kimberley, was conferred upon the town which had by that time sprung up. All sorts and conditions of men” in thousands rushed to the place, and began marking out their claims. A space thirty feet square was allowed to each claim, and no individual was per- mitted to take more than ten claims. This regulation, which the diggers agreed to among themselves, was afterwards ratified by the Government, who sent down officials to keep order, and to collect a duty of 10s. per claim per month. It was soon found that many of the areas selected were valueless. As the gravel was dug out the diamondiferous area became narrower and narrower, being confined within easily defined limits by a wall, or reef, of shaly limestone encircling it,1 which narrows gradually towards the
1 On the 5th of April, 1884, a great catastrophe occurred, the reef of shale liniug the side of the mine slipping in, and covering nearly all the workings and machinery. At about seven o’clock in the morning the reef was seen to start, and in less than five hours most of the workings were smothered. The French and Standard Com- panies managed to save part of their plant; but the workings were c 2
Where the Diamonds are found.
bottom, at the rate of about one in five, so that a vertical section of the mine would be something like a V shape.
Suddenly the dry, sandy gravel, in which the diamonds were found, gave way to a stratum of hard blue ground, which the miners thought to be bed rock. Claims were sold for what they would fetch, and abandoned as worthless, and the diamond-fields seemed to have lost their lustre in the eyes of all but those whose gravel workings still held out. Presently, however, some men sinking a well in this blue ground at Bultfontein noticed a diamond tumble out of the bucket, and it soon became evident that the blue flint- like ground contained diamonds in greater abundance than the superincumbent gravel, though, strangely enough, not a stone was found outside the limits of the “ reef.”
The price of claims rose rapidly; the knowing ones,” who had sold what they thought an exhausted claim for a song, sang small ; the lucky ones were jubilant. In less than a year there were 10,000 people crowded together, all anxious to make their fortunes. Owners had to be very careful not to leave possession of their claims, or they would be “jumped” by the
buried, in some cases to a depth of ninety feet, with worthless reef. This has been partly removed by the Standard Company and Messrs. Stuart Brothers, but the Trench Company have abandoned the attempt to remove the fallen debris—which has slipped down twice since on their claims after they had pulled up a million loads of it,—and they are now sinking a deep shaft, distant about 1000 feet, and 1000 feet deep, from which they will drive adits to reach their claims. The Central Company, though it has not abandoned the surface workings, is following this example, and the race between the two companies is being watched with great interest.
Cheating the Revenue.
new-comers; and it became necessary to have regular surveys made and official registers of ownership kept, a fee being charged by Government on every transfer as well as on every licence. Quarters, eighths, and sixteenths became as valuable as a whole claim before, and the business of sharebroker and diamond-mer- chant became more profitable than that of diamond- digging, the number of persons engaged in it being al- most as large as that of actual diggers. The “broking” business passed principally into the hands of Jews, who, from the age of fifteen to sixty, mustered in great strength. The knowledge of diamonds on the part of many of the diggers did not extend beyond the fact that they are used to cut glass, and they fell an easy prey to the descendants of Isaac and Moses. Besides this, it was so easy for a hired digger to secrete a stone, and dispose of it surreptitiously, that the owners of claims were fleeced of a large share of their property; but they were powerless to protect themselves, till a law was passed (in 1873) to the effect that no person or firm could, under a penalty of twelve months’ imprisonment, buy a diamond without first taking out a trading licence—for which a fee of 10/. was charged —and then only from a licensed dealer or broker, or from a registered digger or owner of mining property. But this law was easily evaded. A trading licence was issued to a “firm” at the same price as to an individual, and a good story is told of an Israelite making a bet of 10l. to 1l, with a Christian that he could purchase a licence for 1l The bet was accepted, and then it was found that the wily Jew was a partner” in a “company” of ten ‘‘Koppje wallopers,” to whom a single licence was issued on payment of
Diamond cut Diamond.
10l., or 1l. per head. This Jew, however, overreached himself for once, for on this anomaly coming to the knowledge of the Government the law was altered, making it compulsory for every individual, whether a member of a ‘‘firm” or not, to pay his 10?. The sequel was that the man who had made the bet was mobbed by his brother dealers.
“Diamond cut diamond” was the motto among these modern Israelites. “Partnerships” were en- tered into for other purposes besides cheating the revenue. A good story is told of a Hebrew named I——, a well-known dealer, and of good repute as the possessor of a conscience. Now the diamond buyers of those days did not know much of the value of the gems that were offered to them, and they gauged their worth by what other people were said to have offered for them; and when old I———could not get his price for a stone, he would swear that he had been offered that price for it by another dealer. Now, it is always an accepted fact that when a Jew takes his oath he may be believed, at any rate, by his co-religionists, and many a wavering customer was induced to give the sum named on the assurance that it was a legi- timate figure. But after a time it was found that 1———’s