O’REILLY’S ACCOUNT OF NIEKERK.—DR. ATHERSTONE AND THE FIRST DIAMOND.—THE
RIVER DIGGINGS.—INFLUX OF POPULATION.—THE DRY DIGGINGS.—DISCOVERY OF THE
KIMBERLEY MINE.—EARLY DISCOMFORTS OF THE DIGGERS.— PRESENT CONDITION OF
KIMBERLEY.
It is already a matter of history how in 1867 the first diamond was
discovered in South Africa—not in the bed of a river or in the bowels of
the earth, but among the playthings of a Boer’s child in a farm-house
near the Orange River in the Hopetown district.
It is curious to note how—to slightly alter Pope—“great events from
trivial causes spring.” In the same manner that the discovery of
diamonds in Brazil and the opening up of the mines in that country
virtually closed the Indian mines, so the diamond mines of Griqualand
West have almost put a stop to the Brazilian trade.
There is a certain spice of romance about the story of the finding of
the first diamond in South Africa, as told to me by a former patient of
mine, Mr. John O’Reilly, who was the principal agent interested in the
discovery, and who thus achieved for himself a historic name in
connection with the development of South Africa. I took down from his
own lips the following graphic account of the finding of this gem, which
differs in some particulars from the version that has been frequently
given:
[Illustration:
KIMBERLEY MINE—PRESENT STAGE, 1886.
]
“It is nine years ago, you know, Doctor,” he said, “since I first lit
upon the diamond which led to the finding and development of this
wonderful place. I was trading around as usual, never dreaming of
anything particular occurring, when in October, 1867, I outspanned at
a farm belonging to a Boer named Niekerk, close to the Orange River.
His youngsters, when I came there, were playing with pebbles just like
the ‘alleytors and commoners’ beloved by Master Bardell in Pickwick,
and their father was standing alongside watching them. Seeing me
looking on, he pointed out one stone prettier than the rest in the
hand of a little Griqua servant boy who was minding his children, and
said: ‘Dars a mooi klippe voor en borst spelt’ (there’s a pretty stone
for a woman’s brooch). I had a diamond ring on my finger, and I
fancied I could see some resemblance to the cut stone; and taking it
from the boy I tried to scratch my initials on the window pane, as I
had somewhere seen that this was one of the tests of a diamond. As
soon as I found that the stone would cut glass I offered to give
Niekerk, if he would allow me to take it away, one-half of what I
might get for it, supposing it proved to be a diamond. This he jumped
at. I at once inspanned my oxen into my wagon, and went to Hopetown,
our trading centre at that time. When I got there I showed it to
Solomon, the store-keeper, you must know him, who chaffed me and
laughing bet me a dozen of beer that it wasn’t worth anything, and
that I must be an utter idiot to bother about such a mare’s nest. From
Hopetown I trekked on to Colesberg, where I took another opinion. I
asked the resident magistrate this time. He wasn’t sure what it was,
but advised me to send it to Capetown. I didn’t care, however, to do
that, so I sent it to Grahamstown instead, where Dr. Atherstone lived,
who knows all about such things. When I arrived there myself shortly
afterward and saw him he said there was no doubt it was a diamond, and
a good one too. Dr. Atherstone sent it to Sir Philip Wodehouse, then
Governor, who bought it for £500, half of which I gave, as promised,
to Niekerk.
“You ask me how Dr. Atherstone found out what it was. Well, I’ll tell
you what Dr. Atherstone told me. He said he took the stone round to
all the jewelers in Grahamstown, and that their files couldn’t touch
it; and this with something about specific gravity I didn’t at that
time understand, made him feel certain it was a diamond. The discovery
created an enormous sensation? You are right, it did; and if it had
not been for that little bit of luck on the Orange River, diamond
digging in Africa might still be unknown, and the country would never
have made the progress it has.
“When people in the colony began to think that there was a chance of
more diamonds being found where this one came from, numerous parties
of fortune hunters came up and began to search along the banks of the
Orange River, and afterward those of the Vaal. This is the way that
the first diggers came here.”
It is now seventeen years ago since Mr. Southey, then colonial
secretary, laid the second diamond which had been found, on the table of
the House of the Cape assembly, with the prophetic remark: “Gentlemen,
this is the rock on which the future success of South Africa will be
built.” There is not a man who knows this gentleman but rejoices that he
still lives, ripe in years, to see the continued fulfillment of his
remarkable prediction.
To cross the Orange River in those days was to go beyond the confines of
civilization; but the diamond is a wonderful magnet, and as the news
spread a large population of many thousands soon collected. The influx,
as time went on, became of the most cosmopolitan character, North,
South, East and West adding their quota, gold diggers came from the
gulches of California and the creeks of Australia, “Cousin Jacks” from
Cornwall, diamond buyers and speculators from London, Paris and
Amsterdam, “tinkers, tailors, soldiers, sailors, ploughboys,
apothecaries and thieves,” eager at all cost to embrace this chance of
sudden wealth. Hardships were endured, money risked, labor spent. Some
were lucky, others unlucky. The life on the river, however, is spoken of
by the “old hands” as one of happy memory. I should think that thirty
different sites were “rushed” by the early diggers on the Vaal,[23] and
although Pinel and Klipdrift were the principal, yet the banks of the
river for at least seventy miles of its course were more or less
prospected and worked. As I will presently show, the river diggings
after the discovery of diamonds at Du Toit’s Pan and the other three
mines became rapidly deserted, until at the present time there are not
more than 400 diggers altogether on the banks. The diggings are all in
alluvial soil. No great finds are made. The diggers, however, enjoy a
healthy, happy existence, surrounded by the beauties of nature, on the
banks of a broad and majestic river, which in the early days bore on its
broad bosom a perfect flotilla of ferry boats plying for hire day and
night, and which even now, on the birthday of our beloved queen and
other public holidays, may be seen in goodly numbers, with “youth at the
prow and pleasure at the helm,” a very different form of life from the
dust and discomfort of the dry diggings. The returns from these diggings
are at present about £50,000 per annum.
While men were busily engaged in scraping away among the pebbles of the
Vaal River, _prospecting_ was going on some twenty miles southward. The
first dry diggings struck were those of Du Toit’s Pan in the middle of
1870, which were worked chiefly by the Dutch, who at that time never
thought of testing the ground to a greater depth than eighteen inches or
two feet, and who, when they came upon calcareous tufa, abandoned their
operations. Shortly afterward, on the adjoining farm, Bulfontein, and
within gunshot range of Du Toit’s Pan, diamonds were found in the very
plaster which lined the walls of the homestead. Hearing this, many
diggers moved over from Du Toit’s Pan and proved the diamondiferous
character of this farm, the returns from which, however, were found not
to be equal to those of the former place, while a month or two later
another diggings named Old De Beers, and situated about a couple of
miles north of Du Toit’s Pan, were also opened up. An occurrence which
has proved of absorbing interest to the whole of South Africa took place
about this time. In July a young man of the name of Rawstorne, who came
up from Colesberg in the Cape Colony, was out shooting, and becoming
somewhat weary, rested himself under the shades of a thorn bush, and
scratching the ground, from, force of habit and to pass the time away,
unearthed a beautiful diamond. Highly elated with his unexpected
success, when he returned after his day’s amusement to his friends at
Old De Beers, he told them of his luck. Next day, the news having got
abroad, the locality was “rushed” and hundreds of claims pegged out. The
other diggings very soon became practically deserted. Men packed up
their belongings, moved their tents, and sought the “New Rush,” and,
almost as if by magic, in the very place where but a few days before
deer had been quietly browsing, hundreds of diggers could be seen. This
famous “Kopje” is now the Kimberley mine, the richness of which it is
impossible to estimate. When this mine was first opened the claims were
laid out in an oblong of 30 from north to south and 28 from east to
west, making in all upon the original plan 840 claims of 30 feet square
(Rhynland measure), giving 961 English square feet to each claim. After
the whole of the claims were measured and given out, hundreds of others
were marked off and worked. Some were very soon abandoned as worthless,
but others equally worthless were worked, the owners for some time
hoping that a change for the better would take place, and that they
would become remunerative. These extended far into the present site of
the township, and much valuable time was lost in testing them.
At the present time out of the 420 claims originally worked 339⅕ only
remain, and the holdings by various diggers, which at that time amounted
to over 1,100, are now reduced to twenty-two companies and individuals.
In the same manner Old De Beers with its 592, Du Toit’s Pan with its
1,417, and Bulfontein with its 799 claims, are represented by 6, 34, and
21 holdings respectively.[24]
No more wretched existence can be imagined than that endured by the
early diggers. As I have already mentioned, a malarial fever raged,
water was dear and bad, being carted in barrels from adjacent farms,
(after even wells were dug it was sold for as much as 10s. per barrel)
and so scarce that I have seen diggers wash in soda water which had been
imported 700 miles from Capetown. Vegetables were also extremely dear
and almost unprocurable, cauliflowers being retailed at 20s. each and
cabbages at 8s., fleas and flies abounded, sand-storms blew in blind
fury, and of amusements there were none; yet notwithstanding all these
drawbacks, sociability ruled throughout the camps, and a helping hand
was always thrown out by a lucky digger to assist his less fortunate
brother.
Crime was nearly unknown. As I have mentioned elsewhere, the fields were
too far inland and the cost of travel too great to induce any not
honestly inclined to suffer the privations and incur the expense
necessary to get there. Men would leave their tents for hours, even
days, and yet find everything intact on their return, such was the quiet
and order which reigned through the camp.
[Illustration:
DRYING FLOOR FOR BLUE GROUND, CENTRAL COMPANY, KIMBERLEY MINE.
]
But as time went on, and as transport became easier, cheaper and
quicker, the fields became the rendezvous of, I should say, nearly all
the light-fingered gentry and desperadoes that Africa contained; and as
a consequence instances of illicit diamond buying, robberies and
assaults became comparatively numerous, in fact Kimberley became
“civilized.”
At the present day churches and chapels, a theatre and library, a
municipal council, with a mayor, a properly drilled police force, a
well-kept cemetery, the electric light, a race-course and grand stand,
public gardens, with tastefully laid out grounds, an admirably arranged
and conducted hospital for whites and blacks, a noble court of justice,
a comfortably arranged post-office, telegraphic office, and other public
buildings, with last, but not least, a large railway station (which for
the present is the terminus of the iron way to the interior), are
manifestations of the strides which, thanks to the discovery of the
diamond, civilization has made in a region which a few short years ago
was simply the hunting field of the untutored savage or the nomadic
boer. Barkly, which I have already mentioned, Hebron, Likatlong,
Boetsap, Douglas and Campbell are the other towns of the territory,
though the Langeberg and some other parts are inhabited; but the
description of a late writer that “they are poor—are almost
waterless—the trading and mission stations occupied as a rule by the
most depraved of the human race, things whose language is a curse or a
click, whose forms are inferior to those of apes, and whose doom is
extinction,” is perhaps a little too severe on the aborigines of this
country.
[Illustration]