As Dainty Laure and Kate Darcy stood on the edge of the Kimberley Mine,
it was with a feeling of awe that Kate looked down into its depths
filled with Kafirs and their white overseers, and saw those endless
cable wires extending from the brink to the bottom of the mine. The
huge buckets resembled spiders at work, ascending until they reached the
edge of the bowl, when they would drop their spoils into cars which
stood waiting for them, and which in turn would crawl off and away to
the "floor," where they deposited their load, leaving the spiders to
return to their task in the bottom of the mine.
On the arrival of Donald, Schwatka, and the ladies at the Company's
office, they were conducted to the brink of the shaft sunk by a
countryman of Kate's, which was the first successful attempt made in
that direction.
Entering an elevator about six feet square, which was waiting to receive
them, they slowly descended to the depth of two hundred feet. The earth
had been probed to three times that depth, but the shaft had not as yet
been sunk deeper. From the bottom of the shaft was a tunnel reaching to
the mine, a distance of two hundred feet. It seemed like looking
through an inverted telescope.
In this tunnel was laid a tramway, on which cars were constantly going
to and from the mine.
They walked through the tunnel until an opening was reached, then
stepped out on a ledge, and found themselves in the mine, on the
precious blue soil; with hundreds of Kafirs working below, under the
inspection of overseers, who would occasionally draw a gem from under
the spade of one of the delvers. From there they looked upward to the
sun, glaring hot and bright over them, and then to the brink of the
mine, where men seemed like small boys moving about.
It was a strange sensation to stand and gaze around on this
comparatively recent discovery, and contemplate what had been
accomplished, and reflect on the strange chance that had unearthed so
much magnificent wealth.
"Mr Laure, how has this bed of diamonds been formed?" asked Miss Darcy.
"The mine is thought to be the `pipe' of an extinct volcano, and it is
supposed that the diamondiferous soil containing garnets, ironstone,
crystals, and diamonds, has been thrown up by the action of the great
heat of this volcano," replied Donald, "and there seems to be no end of
the glorious riches of this bed of diamonds."
"Well," continued Kate, "it is difficult to realise that this monster
pit has been hewn out in so short a time by man. Nothing daunts him in
his frantic search for wealth."
"Those white men you see are overseers. Each overseer has from ten to
fifteen Kafirs under his eye, to see that they do not conceal diamonds,
as they turn over the `blue stuff' as we call it," said Schwatka.
"Notwithstanding the utmost watchfulness, they contrive to steal and
secrete the gems about their persons in inconceivable ways. As an
incentive to his vigilance each overseer is given a portion of the
profits on all diamonds found under his watchful eyes. An overseer
picked up the Porter Rhodes diamond, and his share of the profits made
him a wealthy man."
"Do these overseers detect many Kafirs in the act of stealing?"
"No, Miss Darcy. A Kafir's countenance is so immovable, that it is
unreadable. Looking right at the overseer he will work a diamond in
between his toes, and thus convey it out of the mine. He eludes the
keenest vigilance by concealing the gems in his woolly hair, and under
his tongue, and even by swallowing them. A stray dog will receive into
his shaggy back, a valuable stone, and carry it around with him, until
relieved of it by the Kafir."
"The working of the mine must be attended with great expense, and these
natives must seem like vampires to the claim-holders," said Kate.
"That is true. Two years ago there were one million carats of diamonds
taken out of the Kimberley Mine, while those of Dutoits Pan and
Bultfontein yielded no less than seven hundred thousand carats. About
one quarter of this enormous product was stolen by the Kafirs employed
in the mines, and sold by them to the I.D.B.'s, who are often respected
and licensed diamond buyers. The large number of jewels stolen by the
blacks while working in the mines has led the Government to make
stringent laws to regulate their purchase and sale."
"How do these Kafirs know to whom to sell their booty?" asked Kate.
"Most of the natives who work in the mines have friends in service in
the town; and it is through their assistance that they dispose of the
stolen diamonds. These house servants form the acquaintance of some
illicit diamond buyer, or I.D.B., as he is pithily called, to whom they
sell the precious stones. There is a fascination to some men engaged in
this traffic which far excels that of any other species of gambling. If
they win, they leave for Europe comparatively rich men in a few years,
but they run such risks of detection that it makes life unbearable to a
man troubled with a conscience."
"Are the diamonds from this soil as fine as those taken from the
Brazilian mines?"
"That is a question that is raised by many, but there is no doubt that
the South African or Cape diamond is as pure and brilliant as any from
Brazil. Most of the crown jewels of Europe, renowned for their history
no less than their intrinsic worth, came from India. The Koh-i-noor was
owned by an East Indian chief, five thousand years ago. The Indian
mines were eclipsed by the Brazilian, which in their turn have yielded
to the fame of those of South Africa--the largest in the world."