So interesting and novel was the life at the fields, that although in
many respects our surroundings and mode of living were rough and
primitive, there was a charm about it that atoned for most of its
shortcomings.
After much difficulty, soon after our arrival we succeeded in finding a
small house, which we rented, as being more comfortable and affording
greater privacy than a hotel. We fortunately obtained an excellent
housekeeper, a worthy Scotchwoman, whose husband was engaged as overseer
in the mine for one of the companies.
Our house contained one large room, with four other very tiny ones
opening out of it. The kitchen was, after the manner of South Africa,
situated away from the house, at one corner of the large plot of ground
which surrounded the house.
The roof and walls were, like its neighbours, of corrugated iron, and a
spacious verandah encircled it; a high rush fence which inclosed the
compound served to keep out intruders and prevent the curious gaze of
any inquisitive passer-by.
Here we led a happy life, with Frank improving in health every day of
her existence. Our rent was 125 dollars a month. Wood was 75 dollars a
wagon-load: it had been known as high as 200 dollars, but coal, having
been found in the immediate vicinity, had been brought into the market
by some of the more enterprising of the farmers and had taken the place
of wood for fuel in the furnaces.
Edibles were reasonable, considering the place, excepting vegetables.
On one occasion when we wished to have a particularly tempting, large
cauliflower we paid 2 dollars for it. This did not enter into our menu
very often of course, for we decided to like other things not so
necessarily expensive, until we two (or three) might find a Koh-i-noor.
There were two cafes, one kept by an American and the other by French
people, where one could be served, at a reasonable price, with a meal
that could vie in variety, delicacy, and culinary perfection with the
first-class restaurants in London or New York. After eating one of
these meals it was strange to go out into the crowded thoroughfare and
hire a cart and drive four or five miles in a country in which one might
imagine one's self in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Surely one could
but say that Kimberley _is_ one of the wonders of the world.
The domestic servants are of a different kind to those working in the
mine, who are usually raw Kafirs from the interior. The Kafirs
generally remain only long enough to save sufficient money to buy a gun
or a few head of cattle and return to their kraals. There they trade
off their cattle for a wife, and then she does all the work for her
husband, whilst he sits down the remainder of his days and tires himself
out in watching her do the work, till the soil, and do everything else,
telling her the while pretty stories of his adventures, and how he loves
her, she thinking it only an honour to work and slave for such a brave
boy as hers!
These Kafirs are continually arriving, coming from long distances,
walking sometimes as far as 1,500 miles in the interior; but the
household servants are different; they are a heterogeneous mixture of
Malays from Cape Town and Kafirs and the imported coolies from Natal.
It is difficult to say which makes the worst servant; at any rate, we
found, no matter from which race we selected our help, it was never safe
to leave anything of value, at all portable, within their reach.
Ladies are quite a rarity on the fields, few of the married diggers of
merchants caring to subject their wives to the discomforts of the life
and the unreliable domestic help. Consequently they remain at home in
Europe or in the more civilised towns of the Cape Colony or Natal. The
few married ladies resident on the fields are very social, and helped
much toward making our stay a pleasant one.
On the evenings when we were "at home," the capacity of our one
reception-room would be tested to its fullest extent. There was always
some subject for conversation, some startling event continually
occurring to form a theme for discussion.
Now it was the breaking out of the Basuto War, with the report
concerning the regiment of mounted irregulars to be raised in the camp
for active service; then again a stone of more than usual size and
brilliancy had been discovered; or some illicit diamond buyer had been
"trapped" by the detectives. This latter topic was always of absorbing
interest to the digger or merchant.
It is the illicit diamond buyer, or as they term it, _tout court_,
I.D.B., who has been the sharpest thorn in the digger's side. He it is
who incites the Kafirs who are employed in the mines to steal, and then
secretly buys of them the stolen gems. The temptation to become
possessed for 400 dollars of a stone clearly worth 4,000 dollars is very
great, and occasionally even a detective is found by his associate to be
engaged in the illicit trade. It is illegal to own a diamond unless one
is a claim-holder or a licensed buyer. If a private individual wishes
to purchase a stone or two for himself, he must first obtain a permit
from the authorities.
These precautions will be seen to be necessary, because the value of the
diamond, its portability, the facility with which it can be concealed,
and the uncertainty regarding its existence make it a source of
temptation to dishonesty among all classes. It is therefore against the
law for any one, even if a licensed buyer, to purchase a diamond from
any one not a claim-holder, unless he can produce his permit.
The law has become so stringent and the detective force so active that
terror has stricken the hearts of the I.D.B.s, for it is now a matter of
fifteen years' hard labour to be convicted of buying a stolen diamond.
Before this stringent law was passed, many went away rich in a few years
who could not have possibly made "their pile" in any legitimate business
in that length of time. Men who have been suspected for years, but have
managed to evade detection, have been pounced upon by detectives at most
unexpected moments; but the temptation is so strong that, despite the
penalty, the practice still goes on, but to a smaller extent than
before.
It was astonishing to find out how often the culprit turned out to be a
man in a good and responsible position, and often the very men who were
the loudest in the denunciation of the crime were themselves practising
it. We were in a cafe one evening when there was a sudden hush,
followed by a startled buzz of conversation, and we heard the name of a
well-known man followed by the word "detectives." A man standing near
who was suspected of carrying on the same trade became suddenly pale and
bit uneasily on his cigar, and with a careless laugh said, "Serves him
right," in a tone of voice which spoke louder than words, "What a fool
not to be more careful!" Before we left the camp that same man was
working in convict dress.
Detectives themselves have been tempted to dabble in the trade, and have
been trapped, and are now working in convict dress by the side of the
men they have helped to hunt down. This fascinating trade of gems
offers great temptations to the weak-willed, and it takes a certain
amount of bull-dog courage, combined with caution and patience, to
continue in this dangerous business.
On mail days great envelopes of diamonds are sent to London. Some of
these packages contain flawless diamonds; others smoky diamonds used in
machinery for polishing and cutting the stones; others again would
contain stones of all colours, sizes, and purity. One day we handled
some packages of spotless gems that the broker had been months
collecting; they were beautiful indeed. One package, worth many
thousands of dollars, contained yellow diamonds, selected stones in
size, colour, and purity. Those of yellow tinge are bought and worn by
the East Indians.
The pure white stone is of more value than the yellow because not so
plentiful. It is a strange fact that these diamond merchants seldom
wear diamond jewellery; they prefer rubies or corals to the too common
gem, the diamond.
The famous Porter Rhodes diamond was found, it is said, by one of his
overseers. A director of one of the companies called one morning and I
opened the door to him; he assured himself that no one could overhear us
before handing me an envelope within which lay this great, pure white
diamond, which only some millionaire with plenty of ready money can
afford to be the possessor of. I felt highly complimented when told I
was the first lady who had had the diamond in her hand, and there was no
need for wonder at his caution, for no one would care to let it be known
he had such a prize about him.
It looks like a large lump of alum with a light like white satin through
it, and weighs 150 carats.
Mr Rhodes placed it on exhibition later on for the benefit of the
hospital, and 5 dollars admission fee was charged to merely have a peep
at it. It made some of the old diggers who had been working for years
so sick at heart, that they did not feel like work for a week afterward:
It is said that when Mr Porter Rhodes had an audience with Her Majesty,
the Queen of England, to exhibit the diamond, he had been told that he
must not contradict her. But when she remarked she did not think it as
large as the Koh-i-noor, he could not endure that, even from a crowned
head, and said: "It is larger!" His pride, however, is not to be
wondered at, for I believe Mr Porter Rhodes is the only _Mr._ who can
boast of owning one of the few big diamonds in the world.
Some enterprising ladies own Scotch carts, which they send to the
wash-ups in which their husbands and brothers are interested, and get
the small pebbly refuse that has been hastily looked over at the
sorting-table. This is brought to the house and sorted over by them
more carefully for the tiny diamonds that have been overlooked in the
haste of sorting out larger prizes. A few of the ladies dressed
themselves on the money they made at this work.
It tires the back and eyes, to be sure, but not any more than other
woman's work.