The diamond fields of South Africa, though of recent discovery, have
eclipsed all others in the world, both in richness and extent. One of
the first diamonds found, worth 125,000 dollars, named the "Star of
South Africa," is owned by the Countess of Dudley, its weight being 46.5
carats. The colour of the Kimberley diamonds makes them much more
valuable than those of Dutoitspan or Bulfontein. Those found in the
latter mines are larger, but yellow or slightly coloured; all the mines
seem inexhaustible. The largest diamond ever found in South Africa came
from the Dutoitspan mine in 1885 and weighed 404 carats, but was spotted
and of a yellowish tinge. Every man interested in these mines expects
and hopes daily to "go one better."
American products are liked, our carriages and heavy wagons wearing
better in the hot, dry climate than those of English manufacture. Corn
comes from home to these shores in ship-loads, and the American light
and strong furniture is liked.
Mark Twain's and Bret Harte's writings are universally read, and the
South Africans say that all they need to open up the country's interests
is about "twenty-five ship-loads of live Yankees."
Some of the houses are furnished beautifully with American furniture.
One lady's bedroom I entered had blue silk and lace coverlet and
hangings to an elegant black walnut bed, marble-topped dressing bureau,
and the remainder of the room furnished in keeping; but there is no
satisfaction in furnishing a house richly or dressing elaborately, on
account of the great dust storms. They come up suddenly, without the
slightest warning, obscuring the light of day. Solid moving columns of
red sand, resembling water-spouts, are whirled round and round and blow
like a tornado over the town. These sand storms are quite a feature of
Kimberley and a very disagreeable one, but they clear the air of any
pestilence. The climate, though scorchingly hot during the middle of
the day, is otherwise a very pleasant and healthy one.
A low camp fever is prevalent during the summer months, but it comes
more from the defective sanitary arrangements than from any fault of the
climate. Women and children succumb to this African fever very quickly
in the hot summer, when the air quivers with the heat; the only hope of
recovery is in being taken away immediately from "the camp" to
Bloourfontin, a beautiful town in the Orange Free State, or to breathe
the sea air. The nights everywhere in South Africa away from the
immediate coast line are invariably cool, no matter how hot it has been
during the day, so that one can always obtain a comfortable night's
rest. But that delightful twilight hour, so much enjoyed at home, is
not known here, the sinking of the sun being followed immediately by
darkness.
A beautiful black Newfoundland dog attached itself to us, and was as
faithful a body guard as any human being, for when once outside the door
at night, no one dared to come within his reach, and when we went out of
an evening he was locked in to guard the house.
One evening on returning home from a social gathering we found the lock
had been broken, the act evidently the work of a white man bent on
robbery during our absence; but Hector's growls had frightened him away.
We had no fears after that of its being attempted again, but we
reckoned without our host. One evening, a week later, we made
preparations to go out, but as soon as Hector saw us putting on our
wraps, he watched his opportunity and slipped out. No coaxing could
bring him back, and so he followed our cart. This time the burglars did
not hurry about their work, but made a most leisurely examination and
overhauling of our belongings.
We returned to a house which was a scene of the greatest confusion.
Every trunk was empty, with its contents piled up on the floor; every
pocket in dress and cloak turned inside out, and all jewellery and
souvenirs that had not been locked up in the safe, of course, gone. We
did not let it frighten us, for, after notifying the police, we shut and
barricaded the doors and sat up till dawn; but there is no use denying
the fact that if a mouse had made its appearance we should have
screamed.
Many balls are held during the cool winter evenings, a few of which we
attended; one, conducted under the auspices of the ubiquitous
Freemasons, was held in the Iron Theatre building, and a very brilliant
affair it was. There were four hundred and fifty invitations, of course
many more gentlemen than ladies being present, but it was interesting to
see what an elegant company assembled so many hundreds of miles from the
nearest point of civilisation. Many of the ladies were attired in
London or Parisian imported costumes of satin and lace; some of the
wives and daughters of the wealthier residents being literally ablaze
with diamonds, the result of their husbands', or fathers', own pick and
shovel, which they had had cut and set during one of their numerous
trips to Europe. It was when returning from this ball at three o'clock
in the morning that we first visited the mine by moonlight, and it may
be said without hesitation that such another sight cannot be found in
any other part of the world.
The moon and stars seem to shine with a brighter light in the
magnificently clear atmosphere than they do in our northern hemisphere,
and the ghastly shadows cast by the immense perpendicular and horizontal
excavations in the mine gave a weird look to a scene the impression of
which can never be effaced. The moonlit chasm resembled a vast deserted
city that had slowly crumbled into ruins.
Another interesting feature of Kimberley is the arrival of the interior
traders' wagon trains, for every wagon is full of precious and various
wealth, the result of a long, risky venture. Not infrequently the
costly wares are sold by auction, in the morning market, and the tusks,
teeth, skins, horns and feathers are spread out upon the ground as if
they were no better than field stuff or garden produce.
It is no uncommon thing to see wagon cargoes worth 50,000 dollars
exhibited for sale in this unceremonious way, amidst a crowd of
onlookers, some of whom look almost as wild as the animals which
produced the barbaric spoils, and as black as coal. Professional
hunters also bring the result of their trips, though the labour of
getting together the skins and ivory is yearly becoming greater, as the
game is driven farther and farther north. No doubt the rapid increase
in the value of farm produce will tend to lessen the inducements to
hunting. Civilisation and barbarism are such mixed quantities in this
land that it seems as if the former will never conquer the latter.
The inhabitants of Kimberley, numbering 20,000 whites, are determined to
make a fine city of it. The old one-storey iron and canvas houses were
being moved aside for larger and finer dwelling-houses.
Capital was being invested in water-works which would bring the water in
pipes from the Vaal River, some seventeen miles away. Government was
putting up stone buildings for post-office and telegraph offices.
Churches were towering up above the surrounding dwelling-houses and
stores. A club-house, the finest in the country, was built at a cost of
90,000 dollars, and they still keep on improving the streets, which
extend over twenty miles. There are some very fine jewellery stores and
dry goods houses, as attractive as any in American cities of double its
population. An air of activity pervades the place. Thirty-two electric
Brush lights, of two thousand candle power, light up the city.
Wishing to see how far civilisation had crept into the interior and also
to breathe the wonderful air of the Transvaal for a little while, we
left our house in charge of our worthy housekeeper and drove away from
the coach office early one bright summer's morning.