42 Men, Mines, and Animals in South Africa. 



ground is then carried to very large, elaborate, 

 and costly washing machines, in which, l)y means - 

 of the action of running water, the diamonds are 

 separated from the ordinary earth. It may be 

 mentioned that in this process 100 loads of blue 

 ground are concentrated into one load of diamondi- 

 ferous stuff. Another machine, the " pulsator," 

 then separates this latter stuff', which appears to 

 be a mass of blue and dark pebbles of all shapes, 

 into four different sizes, which then pass on to the 

 assortcrs. " The assorting is done on tables, first 

 while wet by whitemen, and then dry by natives." ^ 

 The assorters work with a kind of trowel, and 

 their accuracy in detecting and separating the 

 diamond from the eight different kinds of mineral 

 formations which reach them is almost unerring. (^ 

 \ /^ " The diamond occurs in all shades of colour from ) 

 deep yellow to blue white, from deep brown to 

 light brown, and in a great A'ariety of colours, 

 green, blue, jjink, broAvn, yellow, orange, i^ure 

 white, and opaque." - The most valuable are tlie 

 pure white and the deep orange. '' The stones 

 vary in size from that of a pin's head upwards ; 

 the largest diamond yet found weighed 428^ carats. 

 It was cut arid exhibited at the Paris Exhibitiou, 

 and after cutting weighed 22 8^ carats. "After 

 assorting, the diamonds are sent daily to the 

 general office under an armed escort and delivered 

 to the valuators in charge of the diamond 

 department. The first operation is to clean the 



' Report, 1890, General Mnnager, De Beers. 

 ■ lid I. 



