640 



PRECIOUS STONES. 



open working has been abandoned, and a rock 

 shaft has been completed that taps the lower 

 levels. 



In five years the De Beers mine yielded 844,015 

 carats, valued at 3,450,338, an average of 1 (id. 

 a carat. This includes everything taken from 

 the mine. At the beginning the yield was four 

 tenths carat a load, but, as the mining has been 

 carried to a greater depth, the output increased 

 until last year it was eight tenths carat. The 

 average value of a carat of diamonds for some 

 years from the respective mines was as follows : 

 Kimberley mine, 17s. 6d. ; De Beers mine, 

 17s. 8d.; Bultfontein, 18s. 2%d.\ Dutoit's Pan, 

 24s. l\d. ; River Digging, 47s. 6d. The product 

 of the last-named mine, while only yir of the 

 weight in carats, was worth -fa of the entire 

 product, the stones averaging of a much finer 

 quality. The yield of the African mines has 

 been great, and the diamonds have averaged 

 much larger than those from the older mines. 

 The discovery of a 17-carat stone in the Brazil- 

 ian diggings was sufficient to secure the freedom 

 of the slave who found it ; but stones of this 

 size are found by the hundred in Africa. One 

 fifth to one quarter of all the yield, it is esti- 

 mated, have never reached the proper owners, as 

 the native diggers swallow and conceal the dia- 

 monds in every possible manner. Hence it be- 

 came necessary for the companies, in self-de- 

 fense, to take extraordinary precautions against 

 this great loss, and overseers or special searchers 

 are appointed to make the most thorough ex- 

 amination of all who leave the mines. None 

 but those authorized by law, termed patented 

 agents, less than 50 in number, are allowed to 

 purchase or even to possess rough diamonds at 

 Kimberley. The actual loss of the diamonds 

 would not have been so great but for the irregu- 

 lar diamond buyers, or " 1. D. B's.," as the 

 " fences " are called, who sent the stones to 

 England and undersold the company in the 

 London market. This pilfering was in a great 

 measure checked by the adoption of the " com- 

 pound system," by which the " boys " are housed 

 and fed under contract for a certain term, and 

 provided with amusements and liquor. They 

 are thus kept apart from the influences of the 

 vicious whites, who instigate them to crime with 

 " Cape smoke " in their " canteens," as the grog- 

 geries run by the I. D. B's. are called. Visitors 

 who buy from native diggers what they suppose 

 to be valuable diamonds, and secrete them until 

 they have passed beyond the officials, find to 

 their disgust that they have purchased facsimiles 

 in glass, perfect even to the characteristic yel- 

 low tint that is peculiar to many diamonds from 

 this locality. 



The " Victoria," the " Great White," or the 

 "Imperial" diamond is supposed to be from 

 South Africa. It is the largest brilliant in the 

 world. The original weight of the stone was 

 457i carats, or frfa ounces Troy. It is believed 

 that it was discovered in one of the Kimberley 

 mines. It is supposed that during the summer 

 of 1884 the stone was found by one of the sur- 

 veillance officers of the Central Mining Com- 

 pany. His duty being to search others, he was 

 not searched himself, and so smuggled the stone 

 through the searching house. He then commu- 

 nicated with 4 illicit diamond buyers, and 3,- 



000 is said to have been the price he obtained 

 for the stone. To prepare for the transporta- 

 tion of the stone, the 4 I. D. B's. assembled at 

 night, and after a debauch 2 of the party lost 

 their share by gambling. The other 2 reached 

 Cape Town in safety, where diamond laws are 

 not in force, and from a dealer there they re- 

 ceived 19,000 in cash for the stone. An out- 

 ward duty of one half of 1 per cent, is collected 

 on all shipments of diamonds from Cape Colony, 

 but this diamond is said to have been carried by 

 one of the passengers of a mail steamer, and 

 was undeclared. It was next heard of in Lon- 

 don, where it caused considerable sensation at 

 Hatton Garden, the great diamond market. After 

 some time had been spent in trying to find a 

 capitalist who could afford to buy the gem, a 

 syndicate was formed of 32 shares, and the stone 

 was bought for 45,000 cash, on condition that 

 when it should be disposed of each shareholder 

 should receive a thirty-second part in the profits. 

 Before cutting, it was estimated that the crystals 

 would furnish either of the following gems : As 

 a briollette, 300 carats ; as a drop, 230 to 240 

 carats ; as a lozenge, 250 carats ; and as a math- 

 ematically-perfect brilliant, 150 carats. If cut 

 in the latter form, it would give cleavages that 

 would yield one 40-carat and one 20-carat stone, 

 and 40 carats of smaller stones. It was decided 

 to cut it into the largest possible brilliant, still 

 preserving a good shape, and Amsterdam was 

 selected as the place where the gem could best 

 be cut. It was accordingly sent to the polishing 

 mills of Jacques Metz, who erected a special 

 workshop for the purpose, and selected M. B. 

 Barends to cut it. In order to obtain the bril- 

 liant cutting, a piece was cleaved off which fur- 

 nished a 19-carat diamond, and this was sold to 

 the King of Portugal for 4,000. The cutting 

 of the large stone, which was begun in the 

 presence of the Queen of Holland, took about 

 twelve months ; for instead of being cut by abra- 

 sion with another diamond, as is usually done, 

 it was polished down on the scarf or wheel, and 

 a great amount of time was consumed in allow- 

 ing the stone to cool off when it had become 

 heated after an hour's running on the wheel. 

 The stone in its finished condition weighs 180 

 carats, and is a beautiful, perfect, steel-blue 

 diamond, and is the largest brilliant in the 

 world, although flat on one side. It is 39 - 5 mm. 

 (1-!% inch) long, 30 mm. (1-^ inch) wide, and 

 23 mm. (f inch) thick, being exceeded in size 

 by one diamond only, the Orloff, belonging to 

 the Russian Crown. This weighs 194f carats, 

 but it is a large deep rose, and not a brilliant. 

 The " Victoria " exceeds the " Regent " in weight 

 by 44 carats, while the " Kohinoor " weighs 

 only lOG^g- carats. 



The " Tiffany " diamond weighs 125f carats. 

 It is a " double-deck " cut brilliant, absolutely 

 perfect, and undoubtedly the finest large yellow 

 diamond known. It was found in the Kimberley 

 mine in 1879, and was cut in Paris. One of its 

 most pleasing features is that it not only retains 

 the rich yellow color by artificial light, but it is 

 then even more beautiful than by day. It has 40 

 facets on the crown, 44 facets on the pavilion or 

 lower side of the stone, and 17 facets on the 

 girdle in all, 101. Owing to its deep color, it is 

 a finer stone than the historical " Star of the 



