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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



civilization, and await the departure of 

 some prospecting party that requires extra 

 paddlers, or of the supply boat going to the 

 numerous trading posts in the mining dis- 

 tricts. These trading posts carry a supply 

 of foodstuffs and gin (sad to say, mostly 



The one diamond mine established in British Guiana was 

 equipped very little better than are the individual prospectors, or 

 "pork-knockers." Enough gravel for two or three days' sorting 

 was brought from the mine to the washing beds. A trough hav- 

 ing strainers of different-sized mesh was used for the first rough 

 sorting out of the coarser stones from the gravel, after which it 

 was turned over to the jiggers. This mine has since been de- 

 serted, as working it without proper equipment proved a failure 



Two steps in the process of separating the diamonds from the 

 gravel. — The man at the right is swirling some gravel in his 

 sieve to send the diamonds to the bottom. The other man is 

 scooping out of his sieve the top layer of residue gravel from 

 which the diamonds have been jigged to the lower layer. A 

 careful jigger rarely loses a diamond from the mass of gravel 



gin), which is sold in exchange for the dia- 

 monds of the porlc-linockers. By these boats 

 the men work their way into the diamond 

 fields; serving as paddlers, and toiling all 

 day long for several weeks, they reach their 

 destination, having earned in addition one 

 week's supply of rice, salt fish, 

 salt pork, sugar, tea, and 

 flour. They do not carry pro- 

 visions with them from Bar- 

 tica, but depend upon this 

 supply to last them until they 

 can unearth enough stones to 

 ]iay for the next week's ra- 

 tions — and so on each week. 



Their prospecting is begun 

 most often in some shallow 

 creek bed. Those who are 

 more fortunate in the posses- 

 sion of imjjlements may be 

 able to make enough each 

 week to pay for their provi- 

 sions and leave a profit, but 

 most of them make barely 

 enough to buy their provisions, 

 and often have to go into debt 

 during many weeks before 

 they make a find of any im- 

 portant size. Imjjlements usu- 

 ally consist of an ax, shovel, 

 pick, bucket, and a round 

 sieve used for separating the 

 diamonds from the gravel. 



A party I once chanced upon 

 was illustrative of the average 

 group that one might meet in 

 the bush. A negro (giant 

 in size and clad only in a loin 

 cloth) stood knee-deep in the 

 creek and with a long-handled 

 shovel filled the bucket with 

 small gravel. The boy who 

 hell] the bucket carried it to 

 an old man (picturesquely 

 gray-haired and with exceed- 

 ingly large and knotted fore- 

 arms) who did all of the "sci- 

 entific part" of the work — 

 that is, the jigging of the 

 gravel in the round sieve. 

 Diamond production depends 

 largely upon the abilities of 

 the jigger; if he be careful 

 and know his work there will 

 be no loss. This man was very 

 careful and experienced; in 



