AFRICA SINCE 1888 
161 
and added a large tract to that already under British protection. 
But still beyond lay richer lands, and in June, 1895, a territory 
called Northern Zambesia and N 3 ^assaland, larger and more val- 
uable than the original grant, was added to the South African 
Company. This was the land discovered by Dr Livingstone, set- 
tled by Scotchmen at his instance, and here on lake Bangweolo 
he died. The whole territoiy is now called -Rhodesia, or Zam- 
besia, and extends from Cape Colony north over two thousand 
miles past lake Nyassa, with lake Tanganyika as its northeastern 
boundary and the Kongo Free State its northwestern. The com- 
pany now claim a territoiy of nearly one million square miles, 
an area larger than Europe exclusive of Russia. 
The country is very thinly populated, and the valleys of the 
LimjDopo and Zambesi are infested by the tsetse, a stinging ily 
unknown elsewhere ; its bite is fatal to the horse and ox ; it 
seems, however, to disappear with the advance of civilization. 
But notwithstanding this pest, Zambesia, with its great elevation, 
its fine climate, its fertile soil (much of it capable of cultivation 
by irrigation), and its great mineral deposits, may become one of 
the most wealth v and densely populated portions of Africa. 
^^dthin the territoiy of the South African Company are the 
richest diamond mines in the world, and just over its border, in 
the Transvaal, the richest gold mines. 
DIAMONDS 
India was formerly the onl}'- countr}un which diamonds were 
found to any great extent. They were afterward discovered in 
Brazil, and some of small size have been found in other jilaces. 
The diamond fields of both India and Brazil appear to be nearly 
exhausted. The first diamond discovered in South Africa was 
found in 1868 near Kimberley, 620 miles north of Cape Town. 
Since 1870, when mines were opened, the production has ra])idly 
increased, and in twent}’’-five years these mines have ]n’odiiced 
more and larger diamonds than all other countries, 98 per cent 
of the present production of the world coming from Kimberley. 
The.se stones are found in a region about twelve miles in cir- 
cumference, where four small hills or pipes, as they arc called, 
rise from 60 to 80 feet above the ground, i)rol)al)l}^ natural chim- 
nej's or extinct craters, lined with walls of basalt, broadening 
out below the surface to a great dei)th. 'I'hese craters are filh'd 
with a blue diamantiferous formation, which has been forced to 
the surface of the ground by the [U’cssure of the subterranean 
