464 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



pass on his neighbor's ground. A system of haulage upon endless 

 ropes stretched between the claims and the edge of the mine, was 

 adopted as a temporary expedient ; but this had to yield to the objec- 

 tions that the entire circumference of the mine did not afford frontage 

 enough for the erection of a hauling-gear to each claim ; and even if it 

 had been enough, difficulties would have to be encountered in the 

 crossing of the ropes. These difficulties were remedied by the erec- 

 tion of a system of stagings around the margin of the mine, having 

 four or five stories of scaffolds, on which the endless ropes could be 

 landed at different levels, the highest platforms communicating with 

 the claims nearest the center of the mine. This arrangement gave way 

 in time to "horse- whims," and then to steam-engines, the introduction 

 of which was long delayed on account of the cost of transit over the 

 five hundred miles from the coast, and of the uncertainty which pre- 

 vailed whether the mines would hold out long enough to make the 

 expenditure for them profitable. 



The four principal diamond-mines of the Kimberley district have 

 substantially the same formation. They are like bowls of diamond- 

 bearing earth lying in a funnel-shaped inclosure of unknown depth. 

 The surface of the whole country is covered with red, sandy soil, vary- 

 ing from a few inches to about two feet in depth ; underneath this is 

 a thin layer of calcareous tufa, never extending beyond a few feet in 

 thickness. Both of these layers are of recent date, or even still in 

 course of formation, and are general. Beneath them, the distinction 

 between the mine formation proper and the outside rocks or "reef," 

 first becomes apparent. The next general formation going down, in 

 w r hich the diamond-bearing funnel is hollowed out — the "reef" of the 

 miners — is a shale, yellow, or colored from gray to pink, the "upper 

 reef " extending to a depth of from thirty-five to fifty feet, beneath 

 which is a black carbonaceous shale, running to from two hundred and 

 sixty to two hundred and eighty-five feet below the red sand, where it 

 gives place to an amygdaloid dolerite, identical with the bed-rock at 

 the Yaal River diggings. 



The diamond-bearing soil is, for the first hundred feet down, soft 

 and friable, of a yellowish color, and crumbling as soon as it is exposed 

 to the air. At about this level, although there were variations in the 

 .li -pt.il on different claims, the character of the rock all at once changed, 

 and it became hard and of a slate-blue color. This feature caused a 

 panic among the miners, for they at once presumed that the bottom of 

 the diamond-deposit had been reached. They, however, treated the 

 matter in a business sort of way, as things are said to be done in the 

 exchanges where speculation rages. According to the story, as told by 

 Mr. George J. Nathan, in "Longman's Magazine," "the claim-holders 

 determined to say nothing about their discovery, but to go at once and 

 try to sell their claims to unsuspecting diggers. Several of them accord- 

 ingly put back the diamondifcrous soil to the depth of a few feet, and 



