HomeMy WebLinkAboutExeter Advocate, 1899-11-16, Page 7e.:s
THE KIYIBERLEY MINEs
Precious Stones Were First Located
by Children.
Largest Diamond Ever Discovered Known
as the Excelsior.
The discovery of diamonds in South
hard, but alters and softens under
moisture and air. The miners have
taken advantage of this, and the large
companies haul the blue ground to
the surface and : . cad it out to disin-
tegrate naturally. It is spread out on
the floors surrounded by armed guards
night and day, and there it is first
harrowed by two engines some 500
yards apart, dragging the harrows
over it.
Africa goes back only a little more There it stays for six months or a
than 30 years. One day in 1807 the year, and is then sent to the crushing
children of a Boer family, who lived works, where it is washed and rolled
on a farm seventeen hours ride west by machinery until every bit of
of Hopetown, on the bank of the frozen matter has been removed, and
Orange River, were playing with some the diamonds alone remain. Some
stones they found in its bed. bits that do not pulverize under the
.An. ostrich. hunter named O'Reilly harrow are called hard blue, are
happend to pass and the Boer farmer, picked out by hand and carefully
Van Niekerk, called his attention to treated separately, for large stones are
an especially brilliant stone that a. sometimes in these hard masses of
Griqua boy had found. O'Reilly was rock.
startled. He scratched on a pane of The work in the mines is done
glass with the stone and immediately chiefly by Raffis, who wield the drills
decided that he had a diamond in his and use the dynamite for blasting
band, He promised the Boer half of with little inconvenience. They are
whatever it proved to be worth, and _ engaged for a specified number of
weeks, during which, they are kept in
a well guarded compound, fed, and if
ill, treated by the company. Only at
the end of their term of service are
they paid and permitted to leave,
when they return with what seems
to them untold wealth, to buy a wife
and set up housekeeping in their
home, some weeks' journey away.
All kinds of precautions are taken
to prevent them from stealing dia-
monds which they find while at work.
As each mall leaves the mine he must
strip to the skin and submit to a
search of mouth, ears and nose. Even
if he were to swallow a diamond he
would be caught. The companies try
to prevent stealing by offering premi-
ums for the finding of large stones,
but, strange to say, all of the proem -
dons have not prevented the largest
diamonds from reaching the market
through. private persons.
The diggings at Kimberley have
done much to explain the formation
of the diamond itself, for kimberlite
is recognized by all authorities as be-
ing of eruptive origin, the diamond
in it must have been formed by the
tremendous heat generated at the
time of the eruption, In fact, the
mines look like chimneys, or "pipes,"
as they are called, the blue ground
running down toward the center of
the earth like a huge water pipe.
DEPTH OF THE MINES.
The depth of the mines is very
great, a. level in the Kimberley mine
being 1,520 feet down, and in the Do
Beers 1,200 foot. Most of the mining
is now done under ground by galleries
running to the central shaft. This
prevents many accidents, and is a
great economy in space and time.
To give some idea of the amount of
work done in these mines, at the De
Beers, during twelve working days in
November, 1897, eight and three-quar-
ters tons of dynamite, 65,100 feet.
(twelve and one-third miles) of fuse
and 32,500 fuse caps were used. This
mine never yields loss than 900 pounds
of diamond annually, washing 2,409,-
030
,409,-
030 tons of blue ground from them.
The sorting of the stones is an art
and science in one. Good eyes and
judgment are necessary. Here are
found some with deep tints of brown,
pink and yellow, which are most val-
uable, being classified as fancy stones.
Those with light shades are least val-
uable, and the pure white rant: next.
The largest diamond ever found in
the• world was discovered here in 1893,
and is ,mown as Excelsior. It weigh-
ed 971Y carats, and was discovered at
Jagersfontein. It far surpassed the
De Beers, found some time before,
which only weighed 428y, carats yet
was quite a diamond itself.
wanted to follow up the search at
once.
After many wanderings he went to
an Engilsh physician, in Graham's
Town, a Dr. .A.therstone, who was.
the first to recognize the great value
of his "find." He recognized it as a
diamond in a moment, and estimated
its weight at 21 3.16 carats. A little
later this stone was sold to Sir Philip
Wodohouse, then Governor of Cape
Colony, for $2,500. O'Reilly soon
brought another stone from the same
locality, which weighed 8n carats,
and it was sold to the same person
for $1,000. One of the most beautiful
of the South African diamonds later
came from Van Niekerk's farm on
Orange River, the so-called "Star of
South Africa," weighing 831; carats,
found by a. Kaffir.. The brilliant later
cut therefrom came into the posses-
sion of the Earl of Dudley for $125,-
000.
ECRUSH OF Mh:NERS.
Immediately after the first report of
the discoveries of these diamonds the
Orange River was crowded with
white, black and yellow Europeans,
Bafilrs and Hottentots, and here and
there they succeeded in finding a few
diamonds, Theueo the search spread
to the bed of the River Vaal, and
here, on the property of the Berlin
Missionary Society, at Pniol, camps
were pitched and the work began in
earnest.
In 1870 new diamond diggings were
discovered, again by childreu playing
With stones. This was not on the
banks of the river, but on the high
table land where their existence bad
not been suspected. It was on. the
farm of Du Tolls Pau, between the
Vaal and the Madder Rivers. It was
in the mud which had been used to
build his house that the children saw
a shining object, and dug out a dia-
mond. In pulling up a plant another
ahiid found a diamond weighing
• eighty carats clinging to the roots.
The richest mine of all, however,
was found in July, 1871, on the Koles-
berg-Kopje. The old mines wore
abandoned, and then came De Beers
New Rush. The town of Kimberley
was later founded in the neighborhood
,of this mine, being named after the
British Colonial Secretary at that
time, Lord Kimberley, and the mine
was known as the Kimberley mine.
Later some small diggings were found
in the Orange Free State, Kossifon-
tein and Jagersfontein, from which
some of the diamonds of the first
water have since been taken.
DISPUTE OVER OWNERSHIP.
The confusion and disorder of the
frenzied fortune hunters was tremend-
ous, and political confusion followed
in the claim of the Orange Free State
to Kimberley and the mines around it.
The British Govrnment held that this
was British territory, and to make its
claim good purchased the claim of an
old Griqua chief to this land.
The British referred the matter for
arbitration. The decision was in
favor of Great Britain, and mean-
while, with a huge rush, thousands of
miners had come into the country.
The Free State protested against the
decision in vain, for England claimed
that its power was necessary to pre-
serve order, and the Free State was
obliged to accept $450,000 for its
claim.
Several of the wiser miners began to
.combine for the formation of com-
panies to purchase machinery that
might go to the deeper levels where
the famous "blue ground" lay filled
with diamonds. By 1885 many of
these companies were at work, and
then a further combination of thier
interests took place in the formation
,of the De Beers Consolidated Com-
pany, Limited. The moving spirits
in this combination were the redoubt-
able Barney Barnato and. Cecil
Rhodes.
Under the able management of the
latter, this company now pays a divi-
dend of ten millions annually on a
morainal capital of twenty millions.
The latest improvement in mining
machinery have been of course adopt-
ed, and the best engineers are now
engaged in conducting the work. The
"yellow earth" of the surface, in
which the early prospectors found
their wealth has been dug through
and the "blue ground" is being work-
ed to unprecedented depths. This pe-
culiar formation appears to be .practi-
oally inexhaustible, for soundings
have never been able to get beyond it.
METHODS OF MINING.
Nowhere else on earth is this pecul-
iar blue quartz to be found, so it has
bowl feelled kimborlite. It is very
PRESIDENT STEYN AND THE ORANGE FREE STATE FLAG
President Martians Th. Steyn, or Stet jn, of the Orange Free State, has already demonstrated that he is as plucky
an individual as President Kruger of the South African Republic, He has taken the part of the Transvaal In its
quarrel with England despite the fact that the Orange Free State. being nearer the English possessions than the
Transvaal, must receive the first blow. President Steyn is a native of the Orange Free State and is about 42 years
of age He studied law in holland and England and was citief justice of the republic before his elevation to the
presidency in 1896, His republic has an area of 48,326 square miles, and the white population is about 80,000. The
republic is bound by treaty to give assistance to the Transvaal in case of war.
STRANGE BASIITLI\B
How England Gained Possession of
the South African Province,
Peculiar and Interestinc Tribal Custom's-,
Wkite Men Barred Out.
Basutoland, which is now attracting
much attention, is one of England's
inland colonies, completely hemmed
in by the Cape Colony, the Orange
Free State and Natal. It has an area
of 10,293 square miles; the population
is about 220,000 natives, and less than
600 Europeans. A special permit is
required when a European 'wishes to
settle there. It is a*fine grainproduo-
ing district, and the abundant grass
enables the Basutos to rear immense
herds of cattle.
Kaffir tribes from the northeast
were driven southward into the moun-
tain country now called Basutoland,
most of which had been previously in-
babitated only by Bushmen, and here
the Basuto kingdom was built up out
of fugitive clans of the Ohief Mos-
hesh, between 1820 and 1840. In 1858
a war broke out between the Orange
Free State and the Basuto chief, Mos-
hesh, who claimed land which the
Free State farmers had occupied. The
Free State commandoes attacked him,
and had penetrated Basutoland as far
as the stronghold of Thaba Bosiyo,
when they were obliged to return to
protect their diva farms from the rov-
ing bands of horsemen which Moshesh
had skilfully detached to operate in
their rear.
The Governor of Cape Colony be-
came the mediator between them, and
a new frontier was marked out by the
Governor. But in 1805 trouble broke
out once more between the Basutos
and the Free State, and when the
Governor of Cape Colony was called
upon to settle the trouble his decision
was not respected by the tribe, who
could not always be governed by Mos-
hesh. Hostilities began after a brief
interval of peace, and the Free State
made a supreme effort and in 1868
was on the point of destroying the
Basuto power whene Moshesh appeal-
ed to the High Commissioner to ex-
tend British protection to his people.
"Unwilling to see Basutoland an-
nexed to the Free State," says James
Bryce, "and fearing injury to the col-
ony from the dispersion of Basto fu-
gitives through it, the High Commis-
sioner consented and declared the Ba-
sutos British subjects."
In 1879 a chief named Moirosi rescu-
ed his son from justice, and it was
only after severe fighting that his
stronghold was taken by the Colonial
forces. In the following year, owing
to the extension to Basutoland of a
Cape Aot providing for a general dis-
armament, the whole tribe rebelled;
and, after much negotiation, it was
arranged that the Imperial Govern-
ment should take over the country,
receiving a subsidy of £18,000 from
the Cape Government toward the cost
of administration. This arrangement
was carried out in 1844, and Basuto-
land thus became a separate colony. •
The territory is now governed by a
resident commissioner under the direc-
tion of the High Commissioner for
South Africa—the . latter possessing
the legislative authority. which is ex-
ercised by proclamation. The chiefs
adjudicate on cases between natives,
with a right of appeal to the magis-
trates' courts, where all cases between
Europeans and natives are brought.
The revenue arises from the Cape con-
tributions, the post office, native hut
tax and the sale of licenses. Telegraph
offices have been opened at Maseru
and Mafeking, in connection with the
Cape Colonial system. There are 144
schools, with 7,543 scholars, nine -
tenths being in the schools of French
Protestant Mission.
EUROPEANS REPT OUT.
Basutoland is about two-thirds the
size of Switzerland, the larger part
being wild mountain ,region. Every -
A Prorressivo Clty.
In municipal work Glasgow is years
ahead of any other city. Forty years
ago it solved the water question by
clearing itself from its companies and
bringing its bountiful supply from
Loch Katrine, 34 miles away. Ten
years after its waterworks• were open-
ed it bought up its gas companies,
and began to make its own gas, which
it has done ever since. Needless to
say, it does its own electric lighting;
and it works its own trains, which
radiate to all its suburbs. and in half-
penny stages are now producing ten
thousand pounds a week. Its street
improvements have been, many ; it
has cleared a large area of slums; it
runs municipal lodging houses and a
day nursery ; it has a beautiful bo-
tanic garden, with large conservator-
ies in the west, and a people's con-
cert room or palace in the east, be-
sides the usual String of parks, mark-
ets and other inevitables ; and it has
housed itself in one of the most com-
manding and convenient of municipal
buildings, which has quite altered the
appearance of the center of the city.
In short, Galsgow is a good looking
place and worthy of its position.
A Prosperous City.
A week's work in Birmingham oi.m-
prises amongst its various results the
manufacture of 14, 000, 000 pens, 6,000
bedsteads, 7,000 guns, 800, 000, 000
nails, 100, 000, 000 buttons, 1,000 sad-
dles, 5,000,000 Dopper and bronze
coins, 20,000 pairs of spectacles, 6 tons
of papiermaohe wares, over 00,000
worth of jewellery, 4,000 miles of iron
and steel wire, 10 tons of pins, 5 tons
of hairpins, hooks and eyes, 130,000
gross of wood screws, 500 tons of nuts
and screw bolts and spikes, 60 tons of
wrought iron hinges, 350 miles- of
wax for vestal, 40 tons of refined
metal, 40 tons of German silver, 1,000
dozen fenders, 8,600 bellows, 800 tori
of iixwpl,and copper wr►r'ss,_ _..-
thine is done to keep European pros-
pectors and business people out, but
the natives go in large numbers to
the Kimberley mines and bring back
large sums of money with which they
make home investments. The land
belongs to the natives, and the untill-
eil parts are open to all who wish to
turn their cattle into them. The chief
allots fields to each householder, and
the tenant retains the land as long as
he tills it. Ido cannot sell the land,
but on his death it passes to his chil-
dren.
The chief is the high authority in
the allotment of land, and administers
justice in civil as well as criminal
cases. He holds court in the open air
at his kraal, and there settles dis-
putes and awards punishments.
The British Government is repre-
sented by several magistrates and has
220 native police, The present chief
is Lerothodi, and all the greater chief-
tains are, like the head of the nation,
sons and grandsons of the founder of
the dynasty.
THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.
The whole people or its representa-
tives meet the High Commissioner.
The National Assembly is palled the
Pitso. The permanent chief presides,
and debates are conducted by the
chiefs, although all freemen have a
right to speak. These conventions are
usually brought together by the per-
manent chief, but men lower in rank
have a right to summon the people for
the purpose of considering matters of
importance.
.A. writer on the subject of the na-
tives in Africa says as to those meet-
municate with the ghosts hovering
around them.
The Ballot Not ra New Thing.
In 1526 a ballot box was, says Lon-
don Tit -Bits, used in the election of
Aldermen of Loudon; but its use by
the Company of Merchant Adventur-
ers, in electing an agent, was pro-
hibited by Charles I. on December
17th, 1697. In the Long Parliament
it was proposed on February 14th,
1649, that a ballot box should be used
for election of four persons to be of
the Council of State, but the proposal
was rejected by sixty-one votes to
twenty-four. In 1659 the ballot box
used by the "Rota," a political club
at Mile's Coffee House, Westminster.
Two ballot boxes which were used
every year from 1621 to 1715 for the
election of the Mayors of Newport,
in the Isle of Wight, are still preserv-
ed. The boxes are identical, being of
oak, seven inches high and four and
one-quarter inches square, with the
angles splayed off to seven -eighths of
an inch. With the turned finial on the
top they measure nine inches alto-
gether in height. A projecting
moulding top and bottom forms a cap
and base. The leatherbag contain-
ing the voting balls is a curious
rough affair running to a point at the
bottom and caught round the neck by
a drawing string. It is lined. with
coarse red. linen. The balls that re-
main are twenty-seven in number,
eleven white and sixteen red. Tho
first mention of the use of these ballot
boxes is a memorandum in the "old
Ligger," or ledgerbook of Newport,
which contains all records of interest
concerning the corporation from 1507
to 1747, with a list of Mayors carried
down to 1799.
Ings: "The resemblance of the prim-
ary assembles of the early peoples of
Europe is close enough to add another
to the arguments, already strong,
which discredit the theory that there
is any such thing as an Aryan type of
institutions. To -day the Pitso has
lost much of its old importance, and
tends to become a formal meeting in
which the British Commissioner ad-
dresses the people and reads new regu-
lations for their government."
Among the records of the Pitso
which have been preserved are reports
of some of the addresses made by the
chiefs. One is reported as having
said: "This is our parliament, though
it is a very disorderly Parliament,
because we are all fixed up, young
and old, and we cannot accept any
measure without discussion."
One speaker in commenting on a re-
mark made by a Government official
at Cape Town said:
"Mr. K said the Basutos were the
natural enemies of the white man
because we were black. Is that lan-
guage which should be used by a high
officer? Let sentiments like that pass
away—we are being educated to be-
lieve that all people are equal, and
feel that sentiments like these are
utterly wrong." •
PUBLIC OPINION PO W ERFUL.
One of their proverbs is: A man
who makes a mistake in a public. as-
sembly cannot be killed. In this pro-
verb some people have seen a connec-
tion with the Engilsh "privilege of
parliament." Public opinion counts
for much with the Basutos, and they
differ in this respect from the Mata -
bele and thein Zulus. "Tshaka or
Lobengula," says Bryce, "would in a
lnof~ent have had the neck twisted of
any one who ventured to differ public-
ly from his opinion. In this respect
the Basutos resemble their kinsfolk,
the Bamaugwato, among whom
] hama's rule as a chief was amend-
able to public opiuion."
About 60,000 Basutos have been
brought to Christianity by the mis-
sionaries—French Protestant, Roman
Catholic and English Episcopalian.
The women' have been kept in subju-
gation, and are more backward than
men on that account, but their condi-
tion has improved in late years. The
men now assist them in their field
work and in some instances give them
clothes to wear. The Basutos still be-
lieve in ghosts, and they visit the
graves of their dead in order le Gem:.
A FIGHT FOR LIBERTY'
Rev. Dr. Black of Toronto Sara Eri$te)k
Success Meana Liberty.
At St. Andrew's Church, Toronte,
Rev. Dr. Armstrong Black, the re•
cently-inclucted pastor, preached at,
powerful sermon to the 48th Regi-
ment-
Dr. Black spoke from Ephesianer
vi., 1,0 to 20, especially the clause.
in the 1.2tb verse: "'For we wrestle
not against flesh and blood." Dr.
Black referred to the writer, who -
was then a poor decrepit harmless -
looking man, but who had been a
great soldier. They were then in
the garb of war in an hour of peace.
It was hard to realize that the sound
of war was in the air, but they All.
had great battles to fight in their
own natures; battles for which the.
stake was their eternal happiness.
Referring to the Transvaal trouble,
he said the nation of which they
formed a part might have made mis-
takes in striking when they should
not, and in withholding when she
should have struck, but it could
truly be said that her flag never
fluttered in the war breeze unless
liberty was at stake, Britain's rude.
had ever been a most beneficient one,
and no reasonable man could deny
that it would be a good time for all
if British rule prevailed in the Trans-
vaal, No government at the head of
which was such a peace -loving
Queen would ask what was selfish
or unjust of any nation, mor demand
what could be attained by peaceful
measures. He believed God had seen
some great wrong that bad to be
righted which was worth the price
of blood. There was no cure for
time national evils other than war,
and that was why he prayed for the
success of British arms, There would
surely come a time when he who had.
no sword should sell his garment
and buy one. At the present time,
with all nations armed as they were,
and with interests so interwoven,.
who knew how great a fire any spark
might kindle? They must have sol-
diers and patriots at heart; might
their efforts be inspired by unselfish-
ness, and in the hour of victory
might they be conspicuous in humil-
ity.
Cecil Rhodes.
Great Britain's war with the Boers
is beyond doubt in no small measure
instigated by Cecil Rhodes, the South
African multimillionaire and politi-
cian, who considers the Transvaal a
barrier in the nay of his projected
Cape to Cairo railroad.
Return of the Prodigal.
"Where's your baggage?"
"Pawned it to get home."—Chicago
Record.
Dr. Jameson.
Miikinz' Whales t'.r Consumptives.
In London some years ago my at-
tention was attracted by a huge riga
on the opposite side of the street.,
and also by the number of people
flocking into the building. The sign
read as follows: "}°haloid, Infallible
Cure for Consumption. Dispensary
hours, 8 to 10 axe, 3 to 5 p.m."
Entering the building I was at a.
loss what to make of the matter, as
all I could see was the crowd and a.
large tank in the centre of the room.
This tank was some seventy: feet
long, thirty feet wide, and as I learn-
ed afterward, about thirty fent deep
having been constructed at great ex-
pense. li"Mile waiting patiently for
developments I found that the liquid
was being lowered ca• Iet out by
some means. Soon asmooth black
surface appeared to view, and as the
water continued to recede I became
aware that a captive whale was on
exhibition. Surprised at not having
to pay any admission fee, I was soon
made aware of the reason. A frame-
work had been constructed on which
the animal rested, and soca an ex-
pert milkman was engaged in ex-
tracting whaloid, or whale's milk,
which was greedily absorbed at five
shillings per glass. This plan seems
to bo identical with that of the
milkmen in Naples, who lead a cow
to, the door and deliver the fluid in
the presence of the consumer, so that
the latter can be satisfied that no 11-
legal dilution is indulged in. I had.
hardly recovered from ray surprise ab
this unique method of getting na-
ture's own emulsion when I was to
encounter a severer shock. Joining
the throng who were drifting further
down the street I went to South-
ampton Row. The place of attrac-
tion was a smaller building, also la-
belled in a mysterious manner: "Cod-
loids. Authorized agency protected
by letters patent. Supplied to sub-
scribers only. Specific for rheuma-
tism and consumption."
Now what do you suppose codloida
proved to be? Why, eggs of the cod-
fish, and wonderfully large ones too.
They were retailed at two shillings
per egg, and eaten raw with a little
sodium chloride, which in plain Eng-
lish means salt.
This is a picture of Dr. Jameson,
whose raid into the Transvaal a few
years ago resulted so disastrously to
his command. Seventeen of his men
were killed and 49 wounded. The re-
mainder were captured by Commie.
dant T. A. Cronje.
A Mind ltaadinr Trick.
"The mind reading trick of finding
cancealed articles is absurdly easy,"
declared a New Orleans newspaper
man. "It can be done by almost
anybody of ordinary intelligence. The
way to go about it is this: Let six
or eight people seat themselves about
a room, not too close together, and
have somebody, selected as an assis-
tant, blindfold you with a handker-
chief and lead you to another apart-
ment. while you absent some small
article is hidden anywhere they
choose.
"On your return take the hand of
the person who did the hiding, tell
everybody to think about the place
of concealment and start in a run
around the room. Let yourself be
perfectly passive and stop when you
feel an impulse to do so. Then
stretch out the hand that is being
held, grope about, still passive and
still obeying impulse only, and three
times out of five you'll find the ar-
ticle.
"That sounds strange, but it's
true. If you don't believe it, try for
yourself. You will improve by prac-
tice, by the way, and finally you'll
hit it almost every time. It is capi-
tal amusement for a little evening
party, but I would warn you not to
be discouraged by a few failures and
not to permit any laughing or gig-
gling. The secret of the thing is un-
doubtedly unconscious muscle -reading
but I have not bothered my head
about theories. The facts are as' Y
have stated."—New Orleans Times -
Democrat.
Didn't Como Hero to Coal TIP.
"Don't you find our lake breezes
refreshing)
"0, yes," replied the visitor from
the east, looking sorrowfully at the
specks of soot on hie freshly leen---
tiered cuffs. "I' like your air ever s
much bettor than Kew 'soil.' !.i -