President's Address. 7 



So the Boers finally stayed the sweep of the Zulu scourge which 

 had laid waste a great stretch of land north of the Cape settlements. 

 Since the first expeditions scores of roving hunters had chased their 

 game over a network of devious tracks, traversing every nook of the 

 land between the Orange and the Vaal, and often camping for days 

 upon their banks. Then the trekking farmers plodded on after the 

 hunters, sprinkling their huts and kraals over the face of the country, 

 but naturally squatting first on the arable lands and grazing ground 

 nearest to water courses. 



The defeat of the hordes of savages had made it possible for 

 these pioneers to live in safety along the Orange, Vaal and Caledon 

 Rivers. 



For years Dutch and English traders, hunters, pioneers, 

 farmers, shepherds, and missionaries trekked heedlessly over these 

 African beds without picking up a diamond. There is nothing 

 surprising in this. No spot in a diamond field has any resemblance 

 to a jew'eller's show tray. Hardly a person in all South Africa had 

 ever seen a rough diamond. The roving hunters w'ere looking for 

 game bounding over the veld, and gave no heed to the pebble-strewn 

 bank. The stolid Boer pioneers would hardly bend their backs to 

 pick up the prettiest stone that lay upon the banks of an African 

 river. 



The discoverv of diamonds was the reward of daring adventurers 

 and stubborn pioneers who had pushed into the heart of the dark 

 continent. 



A poor farmer's child found a pebble on a river bank, carried it 

 home and dropped it with a handful of other pebbles on the farm- 

 house floor. 'One little white pebble was so sparkling in the sunlight 

 that it caught the eye of the Boer's wife. 



The story of how a Dutch neighbour, van Niekerk, obtained 

 possession of the stone and handed it to the trader, John O'Reilly, 

 of how it was passed on to Lorenzo Boyes, then Civil Commissioner 

 at Colesberg, and finally reached Dr. Atherstone at Grahamstown, 

 has been told too often to be repeated here. 



For more than a year after the discovery of the first diamond 

 there had been a desultory search for diamonds in the gravel along 

 the banks of the Orange and Vaal rivers. The first systematic 

 digging was begun by a party of prospectors from Natal. This was 

 the forerunner of the second Great Trek to the Vaal from the Cape, 

 to be followed by thousands of adventurers from all parts of the 

 world. Nearly all were without experiences in mining of any kind. 



The advent of Australians and Californians experienced in 

 placer mining for gold was of great service in conducting the search 

 for diamonds. The men composing this influx were largely of 

 English descent, but men from every part of South Africa joined in 

 the rush, and nearly every nation in Europe was represented. 



No laboured recital can compass and picture in print any 

 approach to the instant impress on the eve and ear of the moving 

 drama on the banks of the Vaal. It was a mushroom growth of a 



