Kimberley. 237 



of his words (as when reading from a book, or when repeat- 

 ing by heart) or of himself, more than of his subject, he can 

 rarely help pitching his voice in too high a key, and, conse- 

 quently, in an unnatural tone of voice, which, however beau- 

 tiful the words or admirable the reasoning, will fail to impress 

 the hearer. During the forenoon of the day on which I 

 was to lecture at Kimberley, Mr Wilson, the editor of the 

 Diamond Fields Advertiser, came to see me at the Grand 

 Hotel and asked me to give his reporter before I went on 

 the platform a copy of the address I was going to deliver, 

 so that it might appear to the best possible advantage 

 in the newspaper next morning, and would thus be free 

 from any errors the shorthand man might make. I grate- 

 fully thanked him, and promised compliance ; but was so 

 occupied with visitors that day, that I forgot all about the 

 promised manuscript. As I was dressing for dinner before 

 going up to the Town Hall, I suddenly remembered that I 

 was to give a copy of my lecture to the reporter. As there 

 was then no time to write it, I thought I might utilise an 

 article which I had very carefully written on the same subject 

 for another paper ; but which I had kept back for some 

 reason or the other. This I handed to the reporter on my 

 arrival at the hall, with the uncomfortable feeling that my 

 audience would, after reading their paper on the following 

 morning, conclude that the local proof reader had outrage- 

 ously embellished my discourse of the preceding evening. 

 When I saw Mr Wilson on the next night he laughingly told 

 me that I had unwittingly placed him in a very awkward posi- 

 tion ; for several of his subscribers who had heard my yarn 

 and who had read its supposed reproduction in the newspaper, 

 had written to him saying that it was a disgrace to Kimberley 

 that such an admirable lecture should have been so badly 



reported. 



The great success of the De Beers Company is due to 

 their having been able to buy up the mines of their rivals, 

 and to hold I. D. B. (illicit diamond buying) in check. 



