THE ROMANCE OF THE DIAMOND 7 



water running through it. The rest of the space is devoted 

 to games, dances, concerts and any other amusement the 

 native mind can desire. In the compound are to be seen 

 representatives of nearly all the picked types of African 

 tribes. The clothing in the compound is diverse and orig- 

 inal. Some of the men are evident dandies, whilst others 

 think that in so hot a climate a bright-colored handkerchief 

 or "a pair of spectacles and a smile*' is as great a compli- 

 ance with the requirements of civilization as can be 

 expected. 



One Sunday afternoon, my wife and I walked unattended 

 about the compound, almost the only whites present among 

 1,700 natives. At one part a Kaffir was making a pair of 

 trousers with a bright nickel-plated sewing-machine, in 

 which he had invested his savings. Next to him, a "boy" 

 was reading from the Testament in his own language to an 

 attentive audience. In a corner, a party were engaged in 

 cooking a savory mess in an iron pot ; and, further on, the 

 orchestra was tuning up, and Zulus were putting the 

 finishing touches to their toilet of feathers and beads. One 

 group was intently watching a mysterious game. It is 

 played by two sides, with stones and grooves and hollows 

 in the ground, and appears to be of most absorbing interest. 

 It seems to be universal throughout Africa ; it is met with 

 among the ruins of Zimbabwe, and signs of it are recorded 

 on old Egyptian monuments. 



A word as to the hardness of diamonds. They vary 

 much in this respect; even different parts of the same 

 crystal differ in their resistance to cutting and grinding. 

 So hard is diamond in comparison to glass that a suitable 

 splinter of diamond will plane curls of? a glass plate as a 

 carpenter's tool will plane shavings off a deal board. 

 Another experiment that will illustrate its hardness is to 

 place a diamond on the flattened end of a conical block of 

 steel, and upon it bring another similar cone of steel. If 

 I force them together with hydraulic power I can force the 

 stone into the steel blocks without injuring the diamond 



