162 
AFRICA SINCE 1888 
gases. In this formation the diamonds are imbedded, in a reg- 
ular order known to miners. Formerly the earth was thrown 
out from the surface until several hundred feet in depth over a 
large area had been removed. This method of working was dan- 
gerous and expensive, and now shafts are sunk at a little distance 
from the craters and the blue earth is reached by underground 
galleries. The workings are inclosed by high walls, within which 
the workmen are confined during the time of their service. Each 
night they are stripi)ed and their persons and clothing subjected 
to a most careful examination. The secretion of diamonds or 
their purchase from workmen is punished most severely ; but 
with all these precautions diamonds to the value of probably a 
million dollars a ,year are secured by the miners. Instances like 
the following are not uncommon ; A man escaping on horse- 
back was carefully examined and released, no diamonds being 
found upon him, but on crossing the border he stopped, dis- 
moimted, shot his horse, and took from the animal a small bag of 
these precious stones. 
There were originally so many different claims and rival com- 
j)anies that their consolidation seemed almost impossible. It 
was then that Mr Cecil Rhodes first appeared prominently before 
the world. Througli his financial genius and marvelous man- 
agement the companies were consolidated into one corporation, 
with a capital of $20, 000, 000, The net profits in 1895 are said 
to have been over $11,000,000 from the sale of the diamonds; 
$5,000,000, or 25 per cent, was divided and the balance carried 
to a reserve fund. The production is limited to the demand, so 
that the market may not be overstocked and the diamond de- 
crease in value. 
TRANSVAAL, OR SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC 
Not far from the diamond mines are the richest gold mines in 
the world. These are in the Transvaal, a country of from 110,000 
to 120,000 square miles, 240 miles from north to south and 360 
miles from east to west, and with a population of 700,000 to 
750,000. Of these 75,000 are Boers.* 
The ancestors of the Boers were Dutch and French Hugue- 
nots, who had with our own Pilgrim Fathers found in Holland 
a refuge from persecution for more than a generation. The}^ left 
Holland about the same time that the Pilgrims and Dutch 
sailed for America — the one to an inhospitable climate and a 
Boer is the same word as the German Bauer and English boor, a peasant farmer. 
