BY JAMES ANDREW. 101 



is also a dry mine in the Orange Free State at Jagersfontein, 

 which has maintained a small yield for many years, and many 

 other localities have attracted some attention for a time, but 

 without much profit to those working at them. 



Diamonds in the early days of the dry diggings were found in 

 what was known as " yellow ground," all of which was removed 

 years ago, and with the characteristics of which I had no oppor- 

 tunity of becoming personally acquainted. Claims of 31ft. square 

 (30ft. Dutch measure), were sub-divided into sections of even so 

 small an area as an eighth, and were worked under this multiplied 

 ownership, much to the advantage of the mining community. At 

 this time the Diamond Fields probably supported a larger population 

 than at any other period, the number of natives employed in the 

 Kimberly mine alone being over 12,000. 



The system of working was almost similar to that in vogue on 

 the river, but necessarily performed without water. The ground 

 was sorted on the very brink of the mines, and the debris accuma- 

 lated there in great mounds ; afterwards worked again under more 

 careful management to considerable profit. At a depth of some 

 80ft. to 100ft. a change in the character of the ground led to the 

 belief that the mines would soon be exhausted, some of the claim- 

 holders who had sunk deeper than their neighbours having 

 " bottomed" on hard rock. It was ascertained, however, that this 

 rock, or " blue ground " (the name by which it is locally known is 

 "blue") when exposed to the air and moistened at intervals by 

 rain or artificially, decomposed in a similar manner to the more 

 friable yellow ground, and the debris, when sorted, was found to 

 contain diamonds. This was the commencement of the most pros- 

 perous mining days of the province. Improved appliances were 

 invented for treating the ground after disintegration, powerful 

 steam engines were erected to pump the water out of the mine, 

 and haul the rock as blasted and picked out to the surface, and 

 the industry, owing to the excessive cost of machinery and the 

 high price of skilled labour, soon became too extensive for any but 

 the wealthiest private claimholders to cope with, and amalgamation 

 of many proprietary rights led to the formation of companies, 

 and a systematic method of working and management by which 

 the resources of Griqualand, in this direction, were fully developed. 

 The surface of the country in the neighbourhood of Kimberley 

 is covered with a red sandy soil seldom more than a few inches in 

 depth. Beneath this there is a thin layer of superficial limestone, 

 and then occurs what is known as the upper reef — a yellow shale 

 extending to a depth of 35ft. to 40ft. This is succeeded by a black 

 carbonaceous shale of from 250ft. to 280ft., under which is found 

 unstratified basaltic rock which encircles the whole mine. At De 

 Beers the basalt appears in a layer of about 75ft. in thickness on 

 top of the black shale, and as the latter, where exposed to the 

 action of the weather, decomposes very rapidly the overhanging 

 hard rock, until cut back from the margin, is a continual source of 

 danger to those working in the mine. 



Dr. Shaw, of Colesberg, an eminent geologist, has stated that 

 Syenite may be considered the basis of the rocks in the diamond 

 ■fields district, granite only occurring in isolated boulders, and minus 

 the micaceous portion of the compound. He also states that there 

 as no evidence to show what may be looked upon as the true matrix 



