En Route for Kimberley. 33 



CHAPTER III. 



DIA^rONDS. 



We leave Cape Town — The Paarl — Worcester Town — Tlic 

 Hex Kiver Pass — A Paddington man — Arrival at Matjes- 

 fontein — Mr. J. D. Logan — The Karroo — Diamond In- 

 dustry at Kimberley — Visit to the offices of the De Beers 

 Company — ^Nlr. Cecil Rhodes a pulilic man of the first 

 order — Mr. Gardner Williams, mining engineer— The blue 

 ground — Separating the diamonds — Precautions against 

 Theft — The De Beers Company a model Village Community 

 — Electric light used in the diamond mines. 



The mail train for Kimberley leaves Cape To's\qi 

 in the evenino-, but the traveller will be well advised 

 in doing the portion of the journey as far Matjes- 

 fontein by day. The railroad passes through 

 mountain scenery of exceptional beauty and 

 variety. We left Cape Town in pouring rain, but 

 soon after our departure the clouds broke, and the 

 Sim shining out brightly upon the mist which 

 hung over the tops of the Hottentot Holland 

 Range produced a series of rare and astonishing- 

 rainbow effects. About tliirty miles from Cape 

 Town is situated the Paarl, an old town of French 

 origin, which takes its name from a chain of large 

 granite boulders, supi)osed to resemble the pearls 

 of a necklace, Avhich adorn the summit of the hill 

 overhanging the place. The valley of the Paarl is 

 covered with vineyards intersjoersed here and there 



D 



