Show written for this paper THE akif KIMBERLEY DIAMOND FIELDS no one visiting I 1 cape coony on business or pleasure feels he has done his duty unless he has visited the famous diamond fields situated about five hundred miles from cape town on the north bank of the orange r river iver the scene at the railway depot at cape town every evening is is a very animated one ode more moore so when a mail steamer has arrived that day a more cosmopolitan crowd old could not be found at any spot in the universe there are representatives from every country on earth A big californian over yonder is probably speculating lating when civilization will reach me e southern hemisphere in the shape of pullman cars you get a prod in the back and hear bear a smothered voice from behind two armfuls of parcels say peg ili mine friendt another israelite ad for the new jerusalem here a storay german there a son of la belle Pt ence keeping up his national reputation judging from the interest M heis is creating in the breast ot of a buxom eng v oaid dudes soldiers sailors biggers nig gers co coolies olles all are there biiber going out on the train or looting to kill kih time ajust AC Tast the bell ring all aboard and h scramble 6 ramble into your compartment ants re locked in 1 I guess they do that afi wont let get out and walk on to WIN kimberley te y to let it bentt know the train rain is coming I 1 it if yon are caged up with only one iltis intoxicated x man you may feet lucky astolf seems to be more otten often the rule ibn the railroads in f the exception except wt th africa are run rtin by the government d ati are iler very y fair considering the dim es i that bad to be overcome apart cheavy ja v y grades arid and ski efful engineer acre are were the boers they hear of it it their fathers ridden in gangl and why could tOt they the traders arid and transport riders freighters promptly sit sat down on the whole scheme and as they the are a very influential class chasis ft it looked for AL a time as though colony was to be denied steam transportation n but she got it all right althe e end as two trunk lines testify the one running from port elizabeth taking in the eastern province joining wife the a cape town line at decar to proceed to kimberley and Bloem fontein uk the orange free state the cars are built on 00 the old conservative european plan in compartments with the improve wt however 0 of if having the padded back of the seats on hinges so by off slipping out a cat catch ch a top berth beith may be improvised ed south uth african scenery with a few exceptions can be summed up as consist ft of bush co comes carroo es and boulders bod boulders Iders copies and bush with a few sheep cattle battle ostriches and red blanketed kaffits thrown in to relieve the howling bowling wilderness kimberley when I 1 first saw it seemed to have be been built late one night and then in a ednd of a hurry As lumber is a terrible at expensive aft sive article the majority of houses were composed of sheets sheet of galvanized icon AM ar screwed awed together ra roof af and all being 4 manufactured 61 of tho the same article iab tt is 0 in and the me an festive ny fly is on the ta war path life is anything but a bed of roses but men will take any amount ot of discomfort and risks if only they fancy they see a chance to get hold of a little more ol 01 of this worlds goods what are camp fever and sunstroke sun stroke when placed in the balance against prospective wealth A rough diamond is a very innocent thing to look at a pure carbon crystal take it from its bi birthplace I 1 rth place and send it adrift in the world what a commotion it will cause as it passes from hand to hand 1 now on the neck of a popular actress again ticketed away in a pawn brokers safe perhaps adorning some millionaires spotless shirt bosom or maybe in the hands of a thief it passes from one to the other breaks up a family and goes on sparkling and dazzling tor for all tune time no matter in what walk of life it is cast the delicate girl who gazes upon her ring and murmurs what a dear old boy charlie is little knows about the various scenes that glittering jewel has been through of course there is a corner on diamonds as on every thing else the the various claim holders have long since since been boughtor bought or frozen out by the syndicate were the three th great r at mines kimberley debeers and d Jagers Jagers fontein running md at their full capacity diamonds would be as cheap as garnets kimberley claims the largest pick and shovel hole on ob earth the dimensions being somewhere in the neighborhood of 2000 leet feet by bv wire cables cable arr arc stretched diagonally from top to bottom with fth bask baskets ts running up and down eternally ele mally one steps into one of these baskets shuts his eyes and before he has got through the first three words of a mental prayer he strikes the bottom the loss of human life in kimberley reaches an alar alarming Wing height at times so much so that there is always a stock sto k of coffins kept on hand the tiet riet would cave in at most inopportune moments but as long as it was as only biggers that were pulverized it was all right but a five ton rock on a down grade is no discriminator of persons and things began to look as though the supply of white bosses mol might i ht run out so now the old tyle style of shaft and tunnelling tun nelling is resorted to it is not every tom dick or harry that can get a permit to visit the mines I 1 considered myself lucky in holding good letters of introduction action whereby I 1 was graciously graci ous permitted zd to investigate the mysteries of diamond mining early one bright morning I 1 started out accompanied by a very sociable gentleman as guide with another to keep an eye on us both to see that we did not run off with the mine our first introduction was to the compound the home and town of the real workers the natives every south african tribe was there represented kaffits firs fingles Fin goes bondos Basu tos zulus all make the fields their goal A years work at a pound a week makes them independent for life for can they not take their barnin earnings s ana and buy ten or a dozen cows arale trade the animals for two or three wives and settle down to a quiet domestic life sit ip in the shade all day and smoke whilst the wives of their hearth hoe the mealie patch build a spare but chop wood tend baby fetch water from the nearest and otherwise rustle for their lord bandmaster and master the boys all natives are called boys be they sixty years old im the compound were in the chronic state viz very merry with a perpetual grin on their ebony countenances and lolled around clothed in fresh air mostly making the air ring with their laughter like so many children there must have been from to natives in the compound and when once admitted they are not allowed to leave or hold any communion with the outside world without first giving notice to the bosses when they are taken into shanties and kept there for ten days with their hands encased in large leather mitts so if the gentleman has any gems secreted around his anatomy or in a wound it will inflame the padlocked mitts preventing him from removing the gem ando and secreting it elsewhere the company spends millions of dollars a year on their detective service alone and every town in cape colony has its I 1 D B detectives and spotters A suspicious stranger is kept continually under their eye traps are laid for the erring and woe betide him who bites it is pitiful to visit the convict stations and breakwater at cape town and see the number of young follows fellows college graduates and men of refinement working out their ten years sentence side by side with some vermin covered non english speaking native felon and what was their crime simply having in their possession a stone for which they could show no registration certificate surel surely the way of the transgressor is hard bard ft it is a wal fearful a erful temptation when a man comes to you with a tale of woe and a SL good stone or perhaps a with an eight or ten carat stone who offers to sell it you for schoolboy price there is a fortune in your grasp 1 shall I 1 risk it you argue with yourself if you give in god help yu you for in nine nine cases out of ten the man is is a spotter and at the next sess sion another 1 I D B illicit diamond buyer is doomed for the next ten years at a living hell bell labor in the boiling sun amongst thieves black and white to die of fever or be shot down in an attempt to escape yet men mem will risk all that in order to get riches and some do doget get rich very mysteriously despite all the snares laid tor for them they have to be men of resource and an active brain combined with an equally smart accomplice inside the mine false watches heels gold dental caps cramming a stone down a chicken and ana shooing him over the compound fence are all back numbers which only a greenhorn would practice it is ticklish work as no white man on leaving the mine knows when he may be searched he may pass the office for a week and then be called in and searched for the next ten days searching ug is is no childs play either every part of the anatomy are gone over from the hair of ones head and beard to the soles of your feet in a systematic and careful manner if the luckless miner is suspected of swallowing a stone they simply give him an emetic and sit down and wait for the result the blue clay in which diamonds are found lies in strata experts claimed when the fields first began to be developed that the stones were only on the and in river washings but subsequent events prove that the dee deeper p erg they go the richer the blue the blue is brought to the surface and dumped on huge lumber floors to undergo for the next two or three months the pulverizing effect of the elements it is then scraped up and put through the huge washing machines whose ceaseless clatter goes on night and day the clean up exposes a vast amount of crystals garnets with the diamonds all are taken to the sorting room and spread out on tables where they are sorted roughly and finally passed assed on to an expert who sorts the finest rnest water from the off colors and flaws then each stone is weighed registered and done up in parcels ready for the brokes broke sand and to be shipped to england or brussels to be cut and polished I 1 was allowed to hold a handful as a great treat if I 1 promised to roll my sleeves up and I 1 noticed that they had a peculiar soapy leel feel to them the work in the mines goes on day and night As regards to the natives it is work with a vengeance they work in gangs with a white overseer who gets a percentage on all trucks delivered on the dump each shift the poor leads the life of a dog and if dirt does not fly fast enough there is always a man around with a two foot piece of fuse in his hand to assist things generally and the patient boy digs all the harder and never dreams of turning on his task master and knocking the stuffing out of him it is strange but nevertheless true that the average black respects a bully kindness to him seems to be a sign ot of weakness on the part of his baas the atmosphere sur founding ding a good and healthy black under the best auspices does not resemble cashmere bouquet get twenty sweating hardworking hard working boys in a confined space combined with their infallible rule ot of sing singing ng grunting and making noises the livelong day whilst working and a white bossi life is not a happy one he can hardly be blamed for losing his temper in that pandemonium what strikes one very forcibly at the fields is the apparently earless carless way diamonds are handled and shipped every week a man strolls down to the post office with a parcel worth all the way from up gets it registered re gis it is dropped roppe in the mail a bag and a ad starts on its i y mile journey to europe with a bilious ilio u S looking mail clerk in charge ch arge yet in n the history of the country there there has never been a train held up what a chance for jesse james society in kimberley is of course very mixed and one must not judge a man by his cut of his coat for many a tattered one covers the back of a greek scholar whilst vice and roguery parade in broadcloth one of the richest ladies there used to tend bar in days gone by and nd it is whispered that the good natured vulgar wife of took in washing at some remote period ol of her history kimberley is essentially a sport loving town prize fights polo games steeplechaser steeplechases steeple chases foot ball and cricket are indulged in incessantly and when these on is stock exchange to play for all itis it is worth money is plentiful consequently living is high thing that is is cheap curse of south Africa Boer brandy being retailed at a shilling a pint twenty five cents kimberley is no place lor jor the poor man it is overdone but anyone with some gold in his belt no do conscience conscience plenty of gall and craftiness is sure to get along GEO E CARPENTER |