BY JAMES ANDREW. 99 



-completed, with which it was desired to ultimately connect 

 j)rojected Free State lines. 



From 1871 to 1880 Griqualand West remained under Imperial 

 control, and in October of the last-named year the Province was 

 annexed to the Cape colony, a measure which met with much 

 •opposition from most of the influential residents on the Fields. 

 'The area of the Province is 17,800 square miles, and the population 

 is estimated at about 50,000. 



The first diamonds found in South Africa were in alluvial 

 ground on the banks of the Vaal River, and the principal rush 

 of the early days was at Pneil, a mission station of the 

 Berlin Missionary Society. A large population rapidly accumu- 

 lated at this point, and at various diggings or "rushes" along 

 the course of the river, both above and below the station, for a 

 distance of 70 or 80 miles. Good Hope, Bad Hope, Gong 

 Gong, Waldek's Plant, Cawood's Hope, Niekerk's Rush, and 

 Blue Jacket, Esterhiuzen, Longlands, Delport's Hope, Hebron, 

 etc., all supported a considerable number of diggers, 4,000 

 claims, each 30ft. square, being at one time worked a: Cawood's. 

 As the necessary appliances were comparatively inexpensive, the 

 right and means to search for diamonds were within the reach of 

 almost everyone. At the present time a river digger's outfit 

 usually consists of a few very simple appliances. A "baby," 

 an oblong sieve about 6ft. by 3ft., of very fine mesh, so arranged 

 in a stout frame as to oscillate freely, and inclined to allow the 

 gravel to roll down it, is a necessity. At the upper end of this 

 " baby " is fixed a small sieve coarse enough to pass pebbles of Jin., 

 into which the ground is fed by hand, whilst the worker swings 

 the apparatus backward and forward, and thus removes all sand 

 and separates the larger stones, which are glanced over before 

 being thrown on the debris heap in the hope of making a big find. 

 " Babying " ia a most noisy and very dusty process. 



Many diggers still use the cradle, almost identical with that used 

 in primitive gold mining districts, but after the introduction of 

 the gravitating process, it was generally dispensed with. Some 

 large tubs are required, and, of course, picks, shovels, crowbars, 

 etc., and a mule or bullock cart for the conveyance of water to 

 the claims or of diamnndiferous ground to the river, as might 

 • be more desirable. Steam machinery has for some years 

 been used for treating alluvial ground in the search for diamonds, 

 but the principle of sieving, sizing, and washing is practically the 

 same as in the process by hand. It was by means of steam 

 power that I carried on the digging operations in which I was 

 interested during my residence on the Yaal River. The gravitating 

 process is of comparatively recent introduction, old style digging 

 providing for no treatment between the " baby " or the '' cradle " 

 and the sorting table, much to the advantage of the more ex- 

 perienced men of the present time who work over the debris with 

 advantage. 



Gravitation consists of the manipulation of the gravel in hand 

 sieves. About two shovelfuls are treated at once, the sieve being 

 worked with a circular and vertical motion in a tub of very dirty 

 water, clean water for some unexplained reason not being suitable. 

 The gravel ia kept " alive " during the process, and this has the 

 effect of depositing all the heaviest particles at the bottom, and 



