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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



ceiving Is. G(7., and the natives 'id., per carat. Nearly double these 

 amounts are paid for stones found in the mines. 



Mr. Gardner Williams, the eminent mining engineer who occu- 

 pies the important post of general manager to the De Beers Com- 

 pany, was kind enough to accompany me all over the mines, and 

 to explain in detail the method of operation. The De Beers and 

 the Kimberley mines are probably the two biggest holes which 

 greedy man has ever dug into the earth, the area of the former at 

 the surface being thirteen acres, with a depth of 450 feet, the area 

 and depth of the latter being even greater. These mines are no 



Mr. Gardner Williams. Lord Randolph Churchill. Captain Williams. 



In the Rock Shaft of the De Beers Diamond Mine at a Depth of Nine Hundred Feet. 



longer worked from the surface, but from shafts sunk at some 

 distance from the original holes, and penetrating to the blue 

 ground by transverse drivings at depths varying from 500 to 1,200 

 feet. The blue ground, when extracted, is carried in small iron 

 trucks to the " floors." " These are made by removing the bush 

 and grass from a fairly level piece of ground ; the land is then 

 rolled and made as hard and as smooth as possible. These e floors * 

 are about 600 acres in extent. They are covered to the depth of 

 about a foot with the blue ground, which for a time remains on 

 them without much manipulation. The heat of the sun and 



