104 DIAMOND DIGGING IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



cumf erence of the pan is usually about 12ft. , and the outer about 

 45ft. The mud, or "tailings," escaping through the centre is 

 raised by elevators, the water coming into use over and over again, 

 and the more solid portion going to waste. When the machine is 

 stopped the residuum is either washed in a " cradle," or treated in 

 a pulsator, a machine constructed to perform the process of 

 gravitation previously described. The final sorting is identical 

 with the method followed on the river diggings, but the stones 

 remaining in the larger meshed sieve'? of the cradle or pulsator are 

 merely glanced over, as a sorter, however inexperienced, would 

 hardly fail to notice a diamond of such size as they would retain. 

 The resulting debris is generally sold by the proprietors to private 

 individuals, and is again carefully gone through by women and 

 children, who are often amply rewarded for their trouble by the 

 small stones which have been missed on the sorting table. After 

 rain diamonds are occasionally found in the streets or in paths 

 which have been repaired with material of this nature. A com- 

 plete plant for raising and washing diamondiferous ground cannot 

 be put up for less than £25,000. 



Diamonds in the rough as found in the Griqualand mines are 

 generally perfectly bright and clear, free from any coating of silica, 

 such as I believe sometimes encrusts stones found in other 

 countries. They are more varied in quality, colour, and form than 

 is generally supposed. A white stone of 10 carats weight (ISlj 

 carats=loz ), or upwards, of perfect purity, free from speck or flaw 

 of any description is by no means common ; such stones have, or 

 had, up to the time my acquaintance with the diamond market 

 ceased, suffered no depreciation in value, whilst those of an inferior 

 quality, had within some twelve months, fallen 50 per cent., and as 

 inferior and small stones are what a digger used to depend upon to 

 pay his working expenses, the great and universal depression on 

 the fields in the year 1883 was chiefly due to this quite unex- 

 pected fall. Spots in diamonds are of very frequent occurrence, 

 and it ia by no means an easy matter to decide as to the amount of 

 depreciation in value they occasion. The stone may be split or 

 the spot cut out, so as to leave the diamond as perfect and of the 

 same size it would have been when cut had no such blemish existed ; 

 under other circumstances it may be comparatively valueless. 

 Buyers are naturally averse to admit that a spot may be anything 

 but a serious defect in a stone. At the river diggings water-worn 

 diamonds resembling ground glass in appearance are common, and 

 are frequently difficult to distinguish from other pebbles. For 

 many months I carried about a stone of this description of the 

 size and shape of a small marble, and saved only on acount of its 

 peculiar form, which ultimately proved to be a diamond although 

 of inferior quality. The majority of stones found are in the form 

 of an octahedron, and of modifications of that shape. Many have all 

 the angles almost as sharp and well defined as in cut stones. Some 

 bear peculiar triangular marks on their facets as if they had been 

 built up in layers. Macles or flat triangular stones are also 

 common, but are of little commercial value, and curious combina- 

 tions of maces are occasionally met with, but they are only 

 interesting as specimens. I have heard of the discovery of one 

 hollow diamond, but do not recollect its size, and Mr. Streeter, in 

 his work on precious stones, mentions a white diamond in which is 

 enclosed a small yellow stone. 



